Desperate Times
by TheRavenAndBear
Summary: Fili and Kili are embarking on a hunting trip to find food for a struggling Erid Luin. When something goes wrong the brothers aren't sure if they'll make it back. (please let me know what you think! I don't have much experience in writing fanfiction. if you want me to continue or want to recommend ideas please r&r. If I get a a positive review I will continue to the next chapter)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

"Oh come on, Fee. You can never have too many arrows." Kili nagged as he stood inspecting the finely made arrow. Normally Kili would have made his own, only this time he didn't have enough time.

"No, Kili. You've already got a whole quiver full. Plus, we'll only be gone three days, you couldn't possibly need more than that." Fili was starting to get frustrated, he had been trying to talk some bit of sense into Kili for about ten minutes now.

"I know, but these could last me for months! You'll regret not letting me get them once stag number five gets away." Kili countered, sending a grin his brother's way while trying to make his eyes seem as big as possible.

"Oh really? Stag number five? We'll be lucky if we get one." Fili said, "We just don't have the money right now, you forget that food is running low and prices are rising, that's why we're going on this trip in the first place. Once we get the money from our catch then you can use _your_ share to buy as many arrows as you want."

"Fine." Kili said flatly, "I suppose you're right. But what about a new water skin? Ever since mine got that hole at the top I lose half my water before it gets to my mouth."

"Whatever, as long as you're paying for it." Fili conceded, elbowing his brother in the ribs as he headed toward the door of the shop.

"Ouch! Hey, wait up!" Kili grabbed a canteen and brought it up to the counter to pay.

"Don't be such a baby. It's a wonder mother even agreed to let you go on this hunting trip." Fili snickered.

"Oh, shut up. It's not as if you've been acting any better. How many knives did you buy again?" Kili knew he had his brother there.

Fili didn't bother answering the question, he knew it was just too make a point. Instead he just turned around and started walking out the door. "Moron."

Kili just laughed and, after he finished paying, ran to meet Fili at his side. "So what about these ponies? Uncle Thorin said they were the best in Erid Luin."

"Aye, that's what he said, but if I know Uncle he probably didn't even look around that much."

"No kidding. Of course he would never leave us stuck with two useless ponies."

"Yeah, unless it's to get back at us for loosening his saddle straps last week." Fili giggled at the memory. After mounting his pony Thorin's saddle had slipped sending him face first into the mud.

"Nah, Uncle is too mature for pranks, plus, I've never known him to be the type to leave his nephews stranded in the forest with two stupid, useless ponies."

"You're right. We've got nothing to worry about. Uncle knows his ponies."

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFK

"It's fine mum. We have everything we need. We're leaving very early tomorrow and won't have time for breakfast." Kili explained to his mother Dis.

"Nonsense, there's _always_ time for breakfast. I'll be up and early tomorrow to make it." Dis stood with her hands on hers hips.

"We'll be gone before you even wake up. There's no point." Fili stated, taking his brother's side.

"There's always a point. you can't expect to do much traveling without a big breakfast, you won't last half an hour. And I won't miss seeing you off, that means bad luck on both our ends." Dis then moved her arms to a crossed position over her chest, her dark braided beard set to outline her smiling, knit lips.

At this point both brothers knew they had lost. Kili looked to Fili to give the confirmation.

"If you insist. But if we're up before you were leaving so as not to disturb you." Fili stated.

"Not gonna happen. You boys haven't known an early morning in your life. With no luck at all I'll be the one waking you two." Dis remarked and soon she was back off to her cooking leaving two embarrassed boys in her wake.

 **Well, there's chapter one. I'm still coming up with more ideas for future chapters. Please let me know what you think, without some reviews and tips i might get out of the mood to continue. If somebody writes me a positive review i will write the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything** **else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

Kili woke to the smell of his mother's cooking. Blinking groggily, he looked across the room to Fili's bed where his brother lay, still sound asleep. Kili always woke before Fili, he was a light sleeper and had trained ears.

Kili rose from his bed and got dressed in his travel clothing before crossing the room to awaken his sleeping brother. He walked up to Fili's bed before he got an idea, he stopped and thought a moment before stepping quietly over the the fire pit and, after grabbing some soot, made his way quietly back to Fili's bed. Kili then began gently rubbing the soot into Fili's index finger. After he rubbed ask the soot into his brother's finger Kili grabbed Fili's hand mirror and hid it under the bed. Finally he could put the finishing touches on his plan. Kili pulled a loose feather out of Fili's pillow and gently began ticking his brother's face. He first tickled right between Fili's eyebrows, where his brother soon subconsciously rubbed with his finger leaving a black and blonde una-brow in its place. He then moved to tickling Fili's upper lip and chin- where Fili soon had darkened his own beard and moustache.

After finishing up, Kili stepped back to admire his work. Satisfied with his is art, he then moved to waking his brother up. Kili went over and started poking, prodding and shaking Fili to get a response.

Fili moaned and rolled over, "Five more minutes, mum. I'm not hungry right now."

Kili replied with pulling the covers off his groggy brother and hopping onto the bed next to Fili to whisper in his ear. "If you don't get out of bed soon we won't get an early start on our hunting trip." Kili whined.

At this Fili jolted awake and jumped off the bed, almost knocking Kili off too. "I completely forgot! It isn't _too_ late is it?"

"No, we barely slept in at all." Kili only just managed to suppress a giggle as Fili itched his face, leaving more black soot lines with every scratch.

Fili stumbled around trying to get dressed and searching for all the little knives he kept hidden in his coat. "Mahal, where did I put that mirror? I can't make a nice braid without it."

"No time to look, let me do your hair." Kili moved over to the chair in the corner and motioned for Fili to sit.

"Fine, but make it _exactly_ the way I like it. Anything different and you've got people noticing and asking questions." Fili sounded more disgusted at that last part. Kili knew his brother always preferred to keep a low profile. Keeping the same hairstyle meant people wouldn't come and inquire about it. Kili didn't care, the reason he didn't have braids in his hair was because he liked letting his hair do its own thing, of course him not knowing how to braid his own hair also contributes a bit. It took Dis _forever_ to finally convince him to at least wear a clip, and that was only after giving him one that had belonged to his father before he died.

After Kili finished braiding Fili's hair they both headed downstairs to the kitchen where Dis had just finished setting the table.

When she noticed the boys coming in she smiled. "Good morning, you two. Sleep well?" She raised her eyebrow a bit when she noticed all the black smudged onto Fili's face.

Kili met her gaze and gave a pleading look, asking her not to mention anything about it. Dis just smirked mischievously and winked at him. Kili knew from stories she and uncle Thorin would tell that his mother had been the same mischievous child at his age. He guessed that explained where he got it from.

"Slept like a baby." Fili said as he sat down at the table.

"For there being a famine in the Blue Mountains this is certainly a large meal." Kili remarked, looking at all the food on the table.

"I figured that since you'll both be gone for a few days, I'll have more than enough food for just me and Thorin, and I wanted to make a nice big meal for our last meal together for a while." Dis explained to her two boys.

"Hey, where _is_ Uncle anyways? Wouldn't figure he'd miss seeing us off." Fili asked looking around from his spot at the table.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything." said a deep voice from the back room.

"There you are! I've been wondering where you went all morning!" Dis scolded as Thorin walked into the kitchen. When he noticed Fili's face Dis just put her finger to her lip, indicating him to be quiet.

Brushing of the scene, Thorin continued, "Just had to pick something up from the shop. Bofur just finished them this morning." Thorin said as he joined the others at the table.

"Finished what?" Kili asked as excitement began to surge through him. Fili also leaned closer at this, anything important enough to have uncle getting up _that_ early must be important.

Thorin reached into his pocket, "I asked him last week if he could make something to help you two on your trip, something that could make things easier." As he finished talking, Thorin pulled out two finely carved whistles, one blue, the other green.

Kili leaned in and took the blue whistle and Fili the green. The wood had a very ornate pattern and the whistles were very sturdily built.

"Both whistles have their own special tone designed to sound like a different type of bird. Since you both learned whistle communication I expect this will help you communicate in all kinds of circumstances." Thorin proceeded to show them all the different holes and how to make what sounds with what holes.

"These are great! I.. I don't know what to say." Fili said while still looking over his whistle.

"You don't have to say anything." Thorin said. Then after a moment he added, "Just keep out of trouble."

Kili smirked and added sarcastically, "Come on, when have _we_ ever gotten into trouble?"

Thorin laughed, then pressed his forehead to each of his nephews' in turn. "Just, stay safe."

 **There's chapter two. Let me know what you guys think. In the next chapter Fili and Kili will be setting off on their trip. I'm pretty much making this up as I go, so tips and story line ideas are welcome. Please read and review so I can write another chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

Fili barely noticed when he and Kili neared the bridge marking the outskirts of home- his whole mind was in a haze. The constant voice of his brother was muffled against the thoughts that flooded him. While passing through the village the two brothers had heard rumors of orc sightings in the area and deeper in the woods.

Fili knew the dwarves of Erid Luin tended to overreact sometimes and could easily mistake two travel worn men for two bloodthirsty orcs- still, the thoughts plagued his mind. He would never be able to relax knowing that there could be orcs in the woods. They would have to take precautions. One brother would have to stay on watch at night and switch part way through.

Fili was torn from his thoughts, not by the voice of his brother- which had stopped talking by now- but by a more rough, though still familiar voice.

"Rough night, I'm guessing?" A smiling, young Gimli directed toward Fili as he walked up to him from the opposite direction they came from.

"A night like any other. Why do you ask?" Fili answered.

"It ... it's just that you've got some ridiculous war-paint all over your face." Gimli laughed, seeming amused by whatever he was seeing on Fili's face.

"What are you talking about? I don't have anything on my face!" Fili looked over to Kili, who was just barely containing himself. "I don't have anything on my face, do I, Kili?"

Kili just giggled and replied with, "Er.. uh.. maybe a little, but it's barely noticeable."

"Barely noticeable? Are ye sure that we're looking at the same dwarf here?" Now Gimli looked more confused than amused.

At this point Fili hopped off his pony and ran to the river. He gasped as he looked down at his reflection in the water. Sure enough, there were black lines smeared all over his face and beard. He quickly scooped up some water and washed his face clean of all the soot.

After he finished cleaning up, Fili looked over to Kili- who had also hopped off his pony and was now doubled over in laughter.

"I guess that explains all the strange looks I've gotten today." Fili then stepped closer to where his brother was standing. "Any idea how this could have happened, dear brother?"

After recovering from his laughter, Kili looked up to Fili. "No idea... You know, you must sleepwalk."

"Right.. and that's why my mirror was missing this morning."

"It's the only explanation." Kili remarked, but he couldn't hold it in anymore and was soon laughing again.

Fili ran over and tackled Kili to the ground. He soon had his little brother in a headlock and started to ruffle his hair.

"Okay! Okay! I.. I couldn't resist, just...just get off." Kili huffed between laughter.

Fili stood up and brushed off his clothing before looking over to where Gimli stood shaking his head. "I'll leave you two to it. I've got to get back home before mother wakes up. I snuck out last night and she doesn't know I'm gone."

With that, Gimli walked off leaving the two brothers to their travels.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFK

The rest of the day had gone by fairly quickly and soon night came, there were no more pranks to be had and all they had to do was talk and sing some old dwarvish tunes.

When they finally stopped for the night both of the brothers were exhausted from a full days travel. They were now camped about two miles outside a men's village called Idris.

After they set out their bags and made a fire Fili began making a soup that Dis had taught him to make.

"Since when do you know how to cook?" Kili questioned as Fili added some potatoes.

"Since I paid attention when mum gave us lessons." Fili replied bluntly.

"Hmm... I guess I never was one for _boring_ cooking lessons." Kili sat and leaned against the tree across from Fili.

"Well, ' _boring' cooking_ lessons might just save your life one day." Fili grinned at his brother who sat, staring blankly at him.

"Why would I ever have to cook when I've got _you_?" Kili's smile returned. Placing his hands behind his head, Kili crossed his right leg over his left and began bouncing it.

"Kili, I'm not always going to be there to help you out. You've got to learn how to do these things for yourself."

"What are you talking about? You're always going to be there. You always have and always will."

Fili signed, "I will certainly _try_ to be there but I can't make any promises. Now shut up and eat your food." Fili said, handing Kili his bowl of soup.

Kili lifted the bowl to his lips and sipped since they weren't blessed with spoons or forks. "Mmmm... never let it be said that my brother can't cook. This is almost as good as mum's!"

Fili rose his eyebrow, "Almost?"

Kili rose his spoon in his brother's direction, " _Almost."_

 _Snap!_

Both brothers' heads snapped to the woods.

"What wasthat?" Kili asked, his voice brought to a whisper.

"I don't know. Stay here and watch the camp, I'll go check it out." Fili stood and, noticing his brother's startled state, placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Hey," when Kili's eyes met his he continued, "I'll be

 _fine_. I promise I won't be gone long. Okay?"

Kili just nodded and mumbled quietly, "Okay."

With that, Fili got up and walked into the woods.

 **Uh oh! What's next? Let me know what you think or if you have ideas for the story line. Remember to review if you want me to continue. I have three chapters which means I have two reviews. Keep them coming guys!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

Kili was growing worried. Fili had been gone way too long. Since when did Kili sit back and _'watch the camp'_ when his brother was running off into potential danger? Never in all his life had Kili been the one to shy away from danger, so why was he now? Why, when his brother could be in _real_ danger, was he sitting against a tree and waiting for his return? No more, he wasn't going wait any longer. Fili could be in danger.

Kili got up and collected his sword and bow and was soon running off into the woods in search of his brother.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

"Fili!" Kili called his brother's name in hopes of getting a reply but the only sound that filled his ears were that of the birds calling.

 _Birds_

Kili suddenly remembered the gifts given by uncle Thorin. He stopped and listened for a moment, taking in all the sounds of wildlife. Kili heard the sound of frogs croaking, of trees creaking and water rushing. He heard the sound of the wind in the trees and grass, but most importantly, he heard the birds. One tune sounded above all the rest. One note carried by the wind to reach his ears. Kili interpreted the note.

 _'Brother,' it said._

This entire time Fili _was_ returning his calls. Kili hurried in the direction he heard it come from. Dashing through the forest, Kili could care less about the branches leaving various scrapes and scratches littered across his face, all his mind was set on was finding his brother.

 _'Brother,'_ The note sounded again, this time much closer.

Kili continued to where he heard the tune was coming from, but it didn't sound again. Kili broke through, into a clearing and stopped. He looked around shortly before reaching into his coat pocket to retrieve his whistle. He blew the same note he had been hearing blown to him.

 _'Brother'_

Kili lowered the whistle to listen for a reply. Nothing. He blew again.

 _'Brother'_ No reply. Kili searched around even more, hoping to find a trace of his brother.

Suddenly, a sound from behind caught his attention. Kili whirled about, drawing his sword at the offending creature only to have it knocked from his hand. Kili gasped and took a step back before looking up at his attacker.

"Fili!" Kili leaped forward into his brother's arms, making Fili drop his own sword.

"Maybe I should knock next time." Fili laughed, "What's the big fuss? I haven't been gone _that_ long." Fili questioned, peeling his brother away from him to look him in the eyes.

"I guess not. It just seemed longer without you there." Kili's eyes went downcast and that's when he noticed for the first time a dark red stain on Fili's lower, left trouser leg. "Mahal, what did you do to your leg, Fili?"

Kili immediately got down to inspect it more closely. After tearing some more of Fili's trouser open, Kili got the full view of the injury. It was a deep, painful looking gash on the outside of the leg.

"It's nothing, Kili, it's just a cut. It'll heal in no time, there's nothing to worry about." Fili tried pushing his brother away, but Kili was too persistent.

"This needs to be cleaned and dressed properly before infection sets in." Said Kili, poking and prodding the area around the wound. "How did this happen?"

"Come on and let me show you." Fili pulled his brother up from the ground and dragged him back into the woods.

It wasn't long before Fili stopped and bent down, looking at something in the tall weeds. Kili moved to get a better look. There on the ground in front of him was one of the biggest boars Kili had ever seen. The massive creature was no longer breathing and had a puncture wound- no doubt from Fili's sword- in the left side of its chest.

Kili gasped, "Fili, this boar is big enough to last us two weeks! Think about the profit we could get!"

"Exactly my thinking. Although, I don't think _he_ liked the idea one bit, seeing as he bore his tusk into my leg. I'm lucky it it was just that." Fili said as he pulled some rope out of his bag and began binding the boars legs together.

"I can't wait to see the look on Uncle's face when we bring this home." Kili's smile grew ever wider with each word. Even Thorin himself had never caught such a fine beast.

"And your own face when mum cooks us our first boar meal in weeks." Fili threw his catch over his shoulder and began to had toward camp when-

 _Thwap!_

An arrow flew and pierced the tree next to him.

Both brothers eyes were immediately drawn to where the arrow flew from.

A loud , gravely voice came from the shadows, where a form began to appear as it walked closer. "Well, what do we have here?"

 **Dun dun dun! Dang, I feel just a little bad for faking you out on that one. I think you'll really like what I have planned though. Stay tuned for chapter 5! Please remember to RR, you guys have been so awesome with your reviews. I can't wait to read more!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

"Well, what do we have here?" said the rough voice.

Fili and Kili gave each other a worried glance before turning their eyes back to the approaching figure.

As the figure stepped into the light it confirmed both brothers greatest fears. An orc stood before them, holding an arrow notched bow in its hands. His bow moved around between the two brothers before landing on the older. Fili glared back at the orc.

"This should be fun." The orc sneered at him and fired the arrow.

Fili closed his eyes, preparing for the blow, but it never came. He heard a _clang!_ and opened his eyes. The arrow was lying a few feet away with another arrow embedded in its side. Fili looked over to Kili, who was notching another arrow.

The orc seemed stunned at the shot Kili made. He was only just brought back when Kili fired an arrow that hit the orc square in the head.

Then, all of hell broke loose.

As soon as the orc dropped dead to the ground a swarm of orcs spilled from the woods. Fili dropped the boar to the ground and pulled out his twin swords, twirling them about in such a graceful manner that it seemed a shame they were bringing about such destruction.

Kili notched arrow after arrow into his bow, killing orc after orc with each arrow. Before long, however, Kili reached back to his quiver only pull at air. He had run out of arrows. Drawing his sword, Kili resorted to his less reliable skill set.

"Fili! I'm out of arrows! I told you that you would regret not letting me get more!" Kili shouted into the fray of the battle.

Fili wondered how Kili still managed to lighten the mood even when their predicament couldn't get much worse. His little brother was always like that. For as long as Fili could remember, Kili would lighten his heart. Any time he carried a burden, Kili would take it away. It was like that when their father died. Kili was too young to know he was helping, but it didn't change that he did.

"We have to retreat!" Fili shouted. The pain in his leg was starting to increase with every moment they stayed fighting.

The brothers turned around to retreat from the battle, both running as far as they could from the fight. The orcs were determined, however, and pursued them.

Before long Fili began falling behind. Once Kili noticed, he slowed down and slung Fili's left arm over his shoulders.

"Kili, you have to leave me! Go find help, we can't both make it out of here." Fili begged his brother.

"If I leave you behind now I'll never see you again! Either we both make it out or we both go down together." Kili was determined to get his brother to safety. There was no way he could leave his brother to the "mercies" of those vile creatures.

Fili and Kili could see the end of the forest. If they could make it to the village Idris the orcs might cut off their pursuit all together. Kili pulled Fili into a faster sprint, leaving the orcs trailing further behind.

The brothers were just about to break through the brush when Kili felt something wrap around his legs and bring him to the ground, taking Fili with him.

Fili grunted in pain at the sudden fall they took. He rose to his knees and was just about to scold Kili when he saw the cause of their fall.

Kili rolled into his side to get a better look. A bolas was wrapped around both his legs just below the knees, the rope digging into his skin.

Fili pulled out one of his many hidden knives and began cutting away at the rope that held his little brother down. He had almost gotten through the rope when his hair was pulled from behind, his knife was knocked from his hand and two orcs came over, one holding him down, the other binding his hands behind his back. Fili looked over to where Kili had been laying to see an orc grab him by the neck.

Kili struggled for breath as he was pulled off the ground by his neck. He tried clawing at the orc's arms, to no avail. Kili could hear Fili shouting various curses at the orc responsible for his pain. Just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore he was thrown to the ground beside Fili where he too was bound and the bolas was cut from his legs, finally allowing them to breathe. Fili gave him a worried look and mouthed the words ' _Are you okay?'_ Kili only smiled and winked at him in return.

Both brothers were then dragged to their feet and brought before one orc, who was assumed to be the leader.

"It would seem we have guests tonight!" The orc shouted, raising a cheer from the others around him. "Shabuk always loved guests, it's a shame you two had to kill him before he got the chance to great you _properly_."

Kili was the first to talk back, much to Fili's dismay. "My only regret there was not making him suffer _more_ before he died."

The orc before them backhanded Kili across the face, leaving Kili with a split lip and surely a bad bruise. "Normally I would leave that kind of dirty work to my second in command, he had a certain touch. I guess I'll have to settle with avenging him myself." The orc said, rubbing the hand he had just used to slap Kili. "You want to know what suffering feels like? I will make you endure suffering you couldn't wish upon your worst enemy."

Fili and Kili glared back at him.

"My name is Noluk, but you will learn to call me master." said the orc with slight grin. "Take them with. They have much to learn about orcs, perhaps we could teach them a thing or two."

Fili and Kili were shoved forward causing Fili to stumble a bit. They were in a predicament and he hoped they could last long enough to make it out.

 **There you go guys! Not one of my best chapters but it gets the job done. The next should be better. I've got some ideas for the next chapters that I hope you'll like. Remember to review! I absolutely love reviews and I've read them all. Let me know what you think about this one. See you guys soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

Fili was exhausted. He and Kili had been forced to walk mile after mile without stopping before they were finally aloud to stop for the night. The only fortune Fili could find was that they were both still alive and that they seemed to be heading back towards the Blue Mountains, but, Mahal, his leg hurt. He failed to understand how his pain could escalate so quickly after walking for a while.

Fili and Kili were brought to a halt in a clearing a few miles from where they were captured. The orcs around them began setting up camp and preparing what they called "dinner".

Kili was about to sit down to rest his tired body when two orcs grabbed hold of him. The orcs cut his bonds, brought him to a tree and retied his hands behind the tree. The orcs were turning to leave when one of them turned to Kili and kicked him in the stomach. Kili slid down the tree and drew his legs up to his chest and gasped for breath.

When Kili was finally able to catch his breath and the haze left his mind, he could hear Fili's voice calling to him in a whisper.

"Kili... Kili, are you okay?"

Kili looked up to where he heard his brother calling from to see Fili tied to the tree across from him.

"Yeah... I.. I think so." Kili managed to wheeze.

"When I get my hands on them-"

"You'll make them wish they'd never been born? I reckon that's just about impossible." Kili remarked.

"You underestimate me, brother. I'll find a way to get out of this." Fili tugged at the rope around his wrists.

"I only hope it's sooner rather than later. They're already tearing into our prize catch." Kili stared hungrily at the boar hanging over the fire. Various orcs were already tearing pieces off, even though it had to be _way_ undercooked.

"Selfish, conniving pigs." Fili spat, "Those creatures care for nothing but their own survival and pleasure."

"They certainly seemed fond of that Shabuk fellow I offed back at the clearing." Kili said.

"That's just bull. They're looking for a reason to hurt you... or us, I mean."

Kili rolled his eyes, "It's not like they need a reason. Having no reason never stopped them before."

The brothers conversation was interrupted by Noluk stomping up to them. He was carrying a very sharp looking dagger in his hand.

"What are our two guests up to now." He asked.

"What's it to you?" Fili asked, sending a glare the orcs way.

"Hmmm... Didn't take you for the talker. Your friend here seemed always the one to voice his opinions." Noluk moved to face Fili.

"I prefer not to stoop to your level. I might get dirty." Fili smirked at his own remark. If they were going to be tortured, he would gladly keep Noluk occupied as long as he could to keep the dagger away from Kili.

"Bold words for a _dwarf_ , and, considering our positions, it seems I'll have to be the one stooping." Noluk smiled, "But you're not the one I came to see."

Noluk turned around to face Kili and bent down beside him. "It would seem, little dwarf, that we have some unfinished business."

Noluk took the dagger and placed it on Kili's face, just below his right cheekbone, and cut. Kili gasped at the sudden pain but then immediately sealed his lips. He needed to be strong for Fili's sake.

Noluk moved the knife to Kili's left temple and slowly cut a line down to his cheek.

Kili kept his lips sealed, but Fili could see in his eyes the pain that he was in.

"Stop!" Fili shouted.

"Fili, don't!" Kili pleaded his brother.

Noluk seemed interested at this turn of events. "You care deeply about that dwarf- Fili was it?- don't you?"

Kili wouldn't say anything more. He kept his lips sealed.

"Kusk! Bring me the whip!".

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

 **THE NEXT DAY IN ERID LUIN:**

Thorin had just finished up his work at the forge and was on his way home to Dis. The boys should be back by too, he supposed. It would be nice to see what they came back with. Both boys, especially Kili, were very excited for their trip. They were the best hunters in Erid Luin, and it certainly payed off.

Thorin walked up to the door and paused. He didn't hear the usual laughter and rowdy noises he would normally hear when he came home from the forges. It was eerily quiet. He didn't even hear Dis singing over her cooking.

Thorin quietly pushed the door open and looked around. There was no one in the entryway, but he swore he heard some noise in the kitchen, only, it sounded like crying.

Thorin walked into the kitchen to investigate. Dis was sitting at the table facing the opposite direction. She didn't seem to notice that Thorin was home.

"Dis?" Thorin said gently.

Startled, Dis whipped around to face her brother. She had tears in her eyes and her hair was a mess. "Thorin." She relaxed a bit once she saw it was only her brother.

"What's wrong? Where are the boys?" Thorin inquired, suddenly startled that they weren't there.

Dis sniffled before she answered, "They never came home, Thorin. They're still out there somewhere. I just... I can't help but feel that something terrible has happened."

"Dis," Thorin moved to sit in the chair next to her, "They could just be late, you know boys, they're always getting distracted with the world around them."

"But they've _never_ been late before. I told them to come straight home. They were supposed to be here this _morning._ " More tears began to well up in her eyes.

This _morning?_ Thorin didn't know they were supposed to be back _that_ early. It was nearly night fall, now. He was starting to get concerned himself now. After his nephews had left he had heard the rumors of orcs in the woods, but he didn't take them seriously. He wouldn't worry his sister with that knowledge. She was scared enough as it was. To make her think that her sons could be in the hands of those vile creatures would tear her apart.

"Dis, I will take a group of my most trusted dwarves to take the path they took. I will bring them home. I promise." Thorin placed his hand on Dis's and kissed her forehead. He then rose from his seat and walked out the door.

Thorin had a mission and he would not return without some bit of news for his sister. Something to show where her sons disappeared to.

 **That's the end of chapter 6. I liked this one but I hope to get some more action in the next chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying this, it's taking up a lot of my free time. :) Also I left an Easter egg in this chapter for those of you who have seen Poldark.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Sorry I took so long to update, it's been a hectic week. Here you guys go. I hope you enjoy.**

Fili was frightened. Not as frightened as he would've been if it had been Kili receiving the lashes, but frightened nonetheless.

"Sixteen lashes for 'im." Ordered Noluk.

After a steam of curses and pleas from his brother had been cut off,

Fili glanced over to the tree Kili was at to see an orc tying a gag around his head. When their eyes met, Fili could see just how scared his baby brother really was for him. Fili just smiled at Kili, though it was forced, Fili hoped it would provide a small sense of comfort for him.

Fili's attention was directed elsewhere as two orcs cut his bonds, removed his over coat, turned him around and retied his hands to a branch- he was barely tall enough to reach- over his head. Fili was left with only his tunic, trousers and boots. Even though most of his knives had been removed with his coat, Fili still had one or two hidden in his boots, not to mention his whistle, too.

Noluk's beady-eyed henchman, Kusk, walked up behind Fili and unraveled his whip. Fili heard the crack of the whip as it struck his back.

 _One_

At first, all he felt cold biting his skin, then the _real_ pain came. Fili tried to hold back his cries as the pain finally hit him. Another _CRACK_

 _Two_

The pain was worse this time. Fili couldn't help the small grunt that escaped his lips at the second lash. _CRACK_

 _Three_

The pain only worsened with every lash. This time Fili let out a cry of pain. That only pleased the orcs. They laughed and jeered at the pain he was in. _CRACK_

 _Four_

Fili's mind was starting to cloud over now. The cracks and the pain were starting to blend together. He heard several more cracks and gave several more screams. Another _CRACK_

 _Seven... or eight maybe, Fili wasn't sure anymore._

More pain. Fili could hear muffled cries from Kili, but couldn't make anything out. He just wanted the pain to stop. How much more could he take? _CRACK_

Fili had lost count all together now. He could feel unconsciousness creeping into the corners of his vision. He would welcome the deep sleep that, now, seemed so warm.

No more cracks. Fili knew they hadn't made it through all fifteen yet. He would welcome the break though.

Suddenly Fili's bonds were cut and he crumpled to the ground, just barely hanging onto consciousness. Fili could hear the orcs talking, discussing something. He looked around best he could for his brother before finding him still tied to the tree. Kili tried to smile at him through his gag.

The orcs seemed to be done discussing whatever it was they were talking about because soon two of them went to Kili. They gave him the same treatment they had given Fili not too long before. They removed his gag and Kili began shouting.

"FILI? SPEAK TO ME! YOU MONSTERS! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Kili shouted as the orcs tied his hands above his head.

Fili couldn't make out anything that was being said and couldn't find the strength to answer, but the realization as to what was happening soon hit him. _They were going to whip his little brother!_

Fili tried as best he could to rise from his place on the ground but he had no more strength left, unconsciousness was calling his name. Soon he heard the loud _CRACK_

No cries yet.

 _CRACK_

 _CRACK_

Before long Kili, too, gave in. Screams and cries of pain came from Fili's little brother as he felt the pain Fili had felt just moments before.

Fili was losing his battle with consciousness and, before long, Fili fell asleep, all the while listening to the horrifying screams of his baby brother.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

Thorin was finally on the road. He had gathered together Dwalin, Balin, Bofur, Bifur, Oin and Gloin. Young Gimli had begged to come along, however, his mother didn't much like the idea of the danger they might be heading toward. She hardly agreed to let Gloin come, much less Gimli.

After gathering his company and collecting the food Dis had prepared for their journey, Thorin was finally able to set out. Fili and Kili were almost a whole day late. This worried Thorin even more, that meant that they didn't get slightly delayed. Something must have happened to them.

The march was very quiet as they traveled on the road. Everybody was doing their part in searching for signs of where the boys could have gone. Thorin would have taken the thought that maybe they crashed somewhere along the road or something, it was better than the thought of his nephews in the hands of the orcs.

Thorin was torn from his thoughts by a hand placed on his shoulder. He turned to see Balin's worried eyes looking back at him.

"We'll find them, Thorin. The lads have always had a nose trouble, we'll probably run across them here on the road joking around and smoking their pipes." Balin chuckled as he was reminded of the lads he had come to be so fond of over the years.

Thorin smiled sadly in return, "I pray you're right, Balin. I pray to Aule that you are right."

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

Kili was growing worried. He didn't know how long it had been since their whipping but he knew it had been a while, and Fili still hadn't woken up.

Kili thought back to the night before. The orcs had whipped Fili ten times before they decided he wouldn't last another six. They used Kili as his substitute. Kili had taken the last six lashes for his brother.

Even though Kili had been in and out of consciousness since then, Fili had not yet woken up.

The first time Kili had woken up, he and Fili were lying side by with their hands tied in front of them and their legs bound together. He wasn't awake long enough to process much but he could tell they had been moved to a new clearing.

Kili wasn't sure how many times he had lost consciousness but he was awake now and had a brother to take care of. Luckily the orcs seemed content to let him work, he guessed they'd rather let him do the healing do that Fili would be ready for later tortures. No matter how much Kili hated the idea he wouldn't let Fili fire from infection.

The orcs had provided them with two bowls of water, one of which Kili was now using to clean Fili's wounds- at least, as well as one could with bound hands. Kili had taken bits of his tattered tunic to wrap around some of the more serious wounds.

When Kili cleaned up one particularly painful looking slash Fili whimpered a bit. Kili paused his work and bent down to Fili's level.

"Fili?" Kili whispered as he gently shook his brother.

Fili moaned before his eyes fluttered open. He blinked some before his eyes seemed to focus on Kili.

"Kili?" confusion was eminent on his face but it soon dawned to realization, "Oh, Mahal. Kili are you okay?"

Kili smirked a little, "I'm better than you are."

"How long ago?" Fili asked while Kili helped him into a sitting position against a tree.

"I'm not sure. I've been in and out of consciousness." Kili picked up the second bowl of water. "Here, drink this."

Fili started drinking. After the bowl was halfway gone Fili pushed it away. "Have you had any?"

"Don't worry about me Fili, you're in worse condition." Kili pushed the bowl back into Fili's bound hands.

"Kili, you have to drink something. You can't expect to keep your strength, otherwise." Fili pushed the bowl back again.

Kili looked down at the bowl, then back to Fili. He rose the bowl to his lips and sipped. He pulled the bowl away before it was completely gone and handed it back. "I hope you're happy."

"As happy as one could be in this situation." Fili smiled before drinking the rest of the water.

Fili dropped the bowl when he noticed Noluk coming toward them.

"Now that you're awake, we need to get a move on." Noluk bent down and cut the rope around their legs and hands. "Taking you two to Sol Ludnor, no better place to show you what real suffering feels like."

"You can't expect us to be able to walk all that way." Kili glared up at the orc. "We'll die before we get there."

"Is that really what you mean, _dwarf_?" Noluk's eyes pierced into Kili. "I think that at least one of you will survive." Noluk's gaze traveled over to where Fili was propped against the tree.

"Don't touch him." Kili rose to his feet to look Noluk in the eyes, "I will carry him if I must."

"I won't have to touch him. He will succumb to his wounds before too long."

Now it was Fili's turn to chime in. "You underestimate me." He said, eyes turning to meet Kili's, "As long as I have something to fight for, I will never stop trying."

Noluk looked between the two brothers. "How sweet." Noluk's smile disappeared. "Perhaps you would like to know _true_ suffering."

Without another word Noluk knocked Kili to the ground and stomped on his chest. Kili was sure he felt something snap.

Fili could do nothing but watch as Kili grabbed Noluk's foot and pulled him to the ground. Both of them struggled to get up first. By the time they both made it to their feet Noluk had pulled out a knife from the animal skins he wore for clothing.

Normally Kili would have been fast enough to dodge the blow, but he was quickly weakening from whatever had broken inside him and soon Noluk had the knife lodged in Kili's lower, left abdomen.

"NO!" Fili shouted as he scrambled to reach his brother.

Kili gasped and looked down. Noluk released the knife and let Kili fall back to where Fili was to catch him.

"Kili... Kili! Look at me." Fili's voice broke as he pulled Kili close to him.

Kili looked up and focused his eyes on Fili. "Fee... it.. it's okay."

"Hold on, Kee, I'm gonna fix you up." Fili looked down to where the knife was planted and froze. There, embedded in his baby brother's side was the hilt of Fili's own dagger, one that Thorin had gifted him when he had started training. More tears welled up in his eyes.

Fili was suddenly grabbed from behind by two sets of hands.

"Only take the one. The dark haired dwarf is as good as dead." Noluk ordered.

"NO! KILI!" Fili struggled and thrashed about violently, not caring in the least that his wounds were pulling open again. The orcs were too strong, however, and soon Fili's hands were bound in front of him and he was carried further away from his brother. Fili and Kili's eyes met and they could see the fear in each other's eyes. Would they meet again? Neither of them knew.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

He had only been alone for a few minutes, but to Kili it seemed like ages. _It was still day time, but why did it seem so dark?_

Kili layed on the ground and stared up at the sky. If he was going to die he couldn't think of a better place. He loved the outdoors, always had. It was where he found life, it seemed fitting that it was also where he would find death.

 _Death._ At the hands of orcs, no less.What did he ever do to deserve this fate. On the other hand, what did Fili do to deserve to remain trapped with those horrid creatures? A fate worse than death.

In some ways Kili wished he and Fili could switch places, that he could be the one suffering at their hands instead of joining his father in the halls of Aule. But could he ever wish _this_ fate on his dear older brother? This pain that he was feeling, the never ending feeling of falling, he couldn't wish that on Fili. Fili deserved it the least out of anybody in all of Middle Earth.

In Kili's eyes, Fili had always been as close to perfect as one could be. He deserved better. They both did, but Fili most of all. Kili loved his brother more than anything. He was proud to be lying on this cold, hard ground for defending him. It was the least he could do after all Fili had done for him.

Kili was tired. He was losing his battle with consciousness. He fought to stay awake because he knew if he fell asleep now he would never wake again.

Kili almost drifted off when a noise caught his attention. A familiar whistling sound _and_ a familiar word carried with it.

 _Brother_

Kili used every ounce of strength he could muster to reach down and pull his whistle out of his pocket to blow a reply.

 _I'm here_

It was a couple moments before another tune came back.

 _Going to find you_

Kili pulled in a long breath before answering. It was getting harder to breathe.

 _Take care of yourself_

Another answer.

 _Not leaving you_

 _It's too late_

It was a longer pause this time before Fili answered.

 _We can survive this_

Tears were welling up in Kili's eyes.

 _You can survive this_

 _Not without you_

 _One of us needs to go home to mum_

 _We both need to_

Kili paused, he could feel the world starting to spin. He didn't have much time left.

 _I'm sorry, brother_

 _You can't leave_

 _I tried, I tried for you_

Fili's whistling became more shaky. Kili guessed he was crying.

 _I need you, brother_

 _You have to promise_

Another pause, as if Fili was contemplating.

 _I can't_

Kili's whistling came in more pauses as he stopped to take breaths.

 _Please... for me... she needs you_

 _She needs you_

Kili knew Dis would be heartbroken to lose him, but to lose Fili, too, would crush her.

 _Promise me_

There was a long pause this time. Kili was fighting to stay awake. He was running out of time.

 _Promise_

Kili sighed in relief. He was happy to know Fili would keep going. He was happy that his mother still had hope, that ,even if he didn't make it home, Fili would fight to make it back to her. Dis wouldn't have to be alone.

 _Thank you_

 _I'm sorry_

 _Not.. your fault_

Kili was barely awake, he couldn't hold on much longer.

 _I should have been there_

 _It's... okay_

 _Stay strong_

No more time. Kili blew one last reply.

 _I love you_

Kili's hand dropped to the earth and he closed his eyes. He knew Fili would honor his word. He would make it back to mum and take care of her. As long as his loved ones would be okay he knew he could die happy. That's not how he expected things to go when he kissed his mum goodbye, but the world has a funny way of working.

Everything would be okay. It had to be. He would see Fili again. The Halls of Aule were just a blink away. There was no sadness there, no orcs to take your loved ones away. Everything was right there. That's where Kili wanted to be.

With these thoughts in mind Kili drifted off to sleep, no longer aware of the world around him.

 **Man, that was hard to write. I hope you guys are tuned in. Let me know what you think in the reviews. I'm getting more followers every day and it makes me "Happy, happy, happy."** **Also I'd like to point out that this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Don't get used to it, that was some hard work.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 _I_ _love you_

That was the last thing Fili heard from his little brother. Fili had been blowing many things trying to get Kili to answer. But no answer came.

Fili was forced to accept the one truth he feared the most. The one thing that could send his walls crashing in. His baby brother was _dead_. That light that shined so brightly in his life, snuffed out so suddenly by the thing Fili now hated most. He would never see Kili's bright brown eyes shining up at him, reminding him of simpler times, times when orcs didn't exist- not to them at least- times when they could stay up all night just watching the stars, times when Kili would be struggling with something, anything, and needed Fili to help him.

 _Needed Fili to help him._

Kili needed Fili there. Fili had never been more needed before in all his life. His baby brother was dying before his eyes and he could do nothing to help. That fearful look Fili saw on Kili's face would be forever engrained in his mind.

Things could never be the same. Things could never be happy again. Fili wished he could end it all now. He wished that the orcs would just end his life the way they ended Kili's. Only, he couldn't let them. He made a promise to his brother, Kili's dying wish. Fili had to make it back to his mother somehow. He would survive this, no matter how much he wished he wouldn't, he would live to see his family again.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

Thorin and his company had been traveling for about half a day before they stumbled upon anything of interest.

"It's the lads ponies, I bought them myself." Thorin said while inspecting the two ponies that had come out of the woods.

"They're still saddled, too. I don't like it, Thorin, something is definitely wrong." Dwalin said as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"We'll head into woods. We won't find them on the path if they lost their ponies." Thorin marched off into the woods carrying the reins of one pony.

Balin and Dwalin gave each other a glance. Neither of them believed that the boys just "lost their ponies." Something was seriously wrong, Thorin wouldn't accept that without some sort of proof.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

They had been marching for a good while before night fell and the orcs decided to stop and set up camp.

Two orcs came over and took Fili to a tree on the edge of the clearing where they tied him to it and left. Everything was just like it had been the night of Fili and Kili's whipping. The only difference now was that Kili was gone. _Gone_

Fili didn't bother to raise his head when a pair of boots walked into his vision. "You gonna whip me again? Go ahead, it's not like it'll matter anymore."

"I'm sure you'd love that." Noluk bent down to Fili's level, "Get off easy like your friend did. It's interesting how one creature could so carelessly throw away their life for another. Stupid idea, really. Perhaps he deserved to die."

"SHUT UP! Just shut up! My brother deserved life more than anyone else!" Fili lashed out, "He was kind and sweet and would give his life up for a stranger, even. I loved Kili more than _anything_. You wouldn't understand that though, you orcs only care about your own survival. You killed him just like you would kill an animal. I _will_ kill you for what you did to him."

"Looks like I was right. You really did care for each other. A weakness as I see it." Noluk smiled, "I think the death of your _brother_ will torture plenty long enough for us to make it to Sol Ludnor. Then the real fun can begin."

KFKFKFKFKFKFKKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

The company had been searching the woods till nearly nightfall before they found anything.

"You know what what this means, Thorin?" Balin more stated than asked while, like the rest of the company, inspecting at a path that looked like a herd of wild horses head run through it.

"This... confirms our worst fears. If the lads weren't in trouble before they are now." Thorin lowered his head.

Dwalin walked up behind Thorin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find them, Thorin. The lads are strong, they can handle themselves."

Thorin looked up to face Dwalin and was about to give a reply when a shout was heard from further ahead of them in the woods.

"Thorin! Somebody! Come quick!" Bofur's voice called.

Thorin dashed as fast as he could to where the voice had come from, his heart had never beat do fast. When he broke through into a clearing he could see the shapes of two dwarves- Bifur and Bofur- crouched over something on the ground.

Thorin ran over to where the two dwarves were crouched bit froze when he saw what was in Bofur's arms.

"Kili?" Thorin dropped to his knees beside the limp form of his nephew. Bofur moved so as to let Thorin cradle the lad. Thorin lowered his head and touched it to Kili's. He was cold to the touch.

Soon the rest of the company broke into the clearing too, coming over to see what the commotion was about. Gloin was trailing further behind with the two ponies.

"Mahal..." gasped Dwalin when he got as look at what was lying in Thorin's lap.

Oin stepped forward and bent down on the other side of Kili. He first moved to Kili's hand and felt for as pulse. For a few agonizing moments Oin said nothing, then he placed the hand back on the ground. But still he said nothing.

Thorin was scared to ask the question. "Is... is he-"

"No, but he will be soon if we don't get him out of the cold. He's barelybarely got a heartbeat." Oin said.

Thorin closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank Mahal." He paused a moment before continuing. "What about his other injuries?"

"I cannot yet say. They are, for the most part, not life threatening. I am worried about the knife wound, I cannot take care of it here. I don't have the proper supplies."

Thorin hadn't noticed the knife before, now it was obvious. He gasped when he got a look at the engravings. "By Aule. They stabbed him with Fili's knife."

More heads were bowed in sorrow for the young lad. They were all fond of him and now his life hung in the balance.

"We need to get back to the village." Oin said after looking up from his work in bandaging some of the other injuries.

"We'll never make it time." Thorin said, sadly.

"Yes you will." Balin chimed in, " Take the ponies, ride as fast as you can. You will make it. I know you will. We will stay to look for Fili." Balin looked back down at Kili with sad eyes.

Thorin looked up to the ponies, "Dwalin."

Thorin didn't need to say anything else for his friend to take action. Kili whimpered ever so slightly when Dwalin scooped him into his arms and walked over to one of the ponies. Thorin hopped on and Dwalin gently placed Kili in front of him.

Thorin looked over to find Oin already saddled and ready to leave, he then turned to Balin. "You're sure you'll be okay without me?"

"We'll be fine Thorin, the lad needs you more."

With a nod of his head, Thorin turned and was soon disappeared into the forest.

 **This one's shorter but I hope you're engaged. You know the drill, more reviews more chapters. Stay tuned for chapter 9!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 _"Fili?"_

 _Fili looked down to see two big brown eyes staring back up at him. He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes before answering. "Yes, Kili?"_

 _"Why are you crying?" Fili's heart broke. Kili was too young to realize what had happened._

 _"I... lost something." Fili replied while helping pull Kili onto the bed next to him. Not long ago Uncle Thorin had come home from the orc raid with news that their father had been killed. Kili was only about three years old, he didn't understand yet._

 _"What did you lose, Fili?" Kili scooted closer and grabbed onto Fili's arm._

 _"Something, I'm afraid, I won't be able to find again." Fili replied, more tears streaming down his face._

 _"That's silly." Kili giggled a bit, bringing a small smile to Fili's face._

You _may think so, but it's true."_

 _"No it's not." Kili leaned his head on Fili's arm. "Mum always nothing is truly lost till you stop looking, it's only misplaced, whatever that means."_

 _"You don't understand, Kee, you're too young. I know where it is, I just... can't get to it." Fili tried his best to explain to Kili._

 _"Oh... have you tried?" Kili asked._

 _"I can't do that." Fili lowered his head._

 _Kili looked back up to his big brother with confused eyes. "Why not?"_

 _"Because... I... I would have to leave."_

 _"Where would you go?" Kili was starting to get concerned._

 _"Far away, Kili, and I wouldn't be coming back." Fili would never leave, he loved his family too much._

 _"I don't want that! I want you here... I want you to stay! Please stay, Fili!" Kill burrowed further into Fili's tunic._

 _"Kili, I would never leave you. You are my little brother, it's my job to protect you. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you." Fili pulled his arm out of Kili's grasp and slung it around his brother's form._

 _"I'll stay here, Fili. I'll stay if you stay."_

 _"I'm not going anywhere, Kee." Fili leaned his head down and rested it on Kili's brown hair._

Kili had helped Fili past that bump in the road and every other one they passed, but he wouldn't be here to help Fili now. Fili had failed his job as an older brother, he had failed to protect Kili, his baby brother who had so much to live for.

 _Oh, Kili, I never did anything to deserve you, but what did I do to deserve to lose you._

The whole memory saddened Fili and made him happy at the same time. One thing he had learned growing up was that Kili was right. He had lost his father but the role was soon filled by another. The father figure was misplaced but Thorin had done his best to play a role he was never meant to play. Fili had given him many a hard time but Thorin never stopped loving him. In losing his father he gained another that loved him just as much. For that Fili would always be thankful.

"On yer feet, _dwarf,_ it's time to get a move on." The gruff voice of Kusk broke through Fili's memories as he was pulled from the ground and forced to move forward.

He only hoped Thorin would be on his way now.

KFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKFKF

"How much further, Oin?" Thorin asked as they rode down the path to Erid Luin. Thorin held tightly onto Kili, who was slumping forward in the saddle.

"Not far now. How is the lad holding up." Oin asked, sending a worried glance at the unconscious form in front of Thorin.

"Not well, he's barely breathing. I'll make those creatures sorry they were ever born." Thorin's teeth ground together at the thought of what his nephews had been put through... of what Fili was still being put through.

It was a few minutes later when they finally reached the village. Various gasps were heard as passersby caught a glance at what Thorin was carrying with him.

"By Aule." Came Gimli's voice as he started at Kili's limp form.

Thorin halted and turned his pony to face him. "Tell me where my sister is." Thorin demanded rather harshly, snapping Gimli out of his daze.

"She's still at the house, if I remember correctly. She didn't want to miss ye' returning while she was away."

Thorin nodded before adding, "Get Oin's medical supplies, bring them to the house immediately." Without another word Thorin had turned and was again heading toward home.

When they approached the house Thorin hopped off his pony and scooped Kili into his arms, following Oin toward the house. When they entered the house Thorin could hear Dis in the other room.

"Thorin?" Dis came into the room and gasped at what she saw. "K.. Kili?" Dis rushed over to her son and put her hands on each of his head. "Thorin, what happened?"

Thorin met his sister's gaze and answered sadly, "Orcs."

Dis gasped and looked back down to Kili. "What can I do?"

"We need to get him to a bed. He's weak, Oin needs to begin work immediately." Thorin walked past his sister and headed upstairs to the bedroom where he soon laid Kili down on his bed. Dis pulled a chair up to the bed and busied herself with cleaning the rope wounds on Kili's wrists.

Oin quickly moved into action. Once Gimli had brought the supplies he decided to leave the family in peace and Oin was able to begin his work. Thorin helped to remove Kili's tattered tunic so that Oin could get a better look at the knife wound. Dis gasped when she saw the knife protruding from her son's side.

Oin cleaned the area around the wound before beginning. He carefully grabbed hold of the knife and slowly began pulling it out. Once the knife was removed the wound began to bleed heavily. Oin grabbed a cloth and held it against the wound.

"Thorin." Oin inquired, "Put pressure on the wound."

Thorin moved to take Oin's spot in keeping the wound pressurized so Oin could move to Kili's other injuries. Oin felt around on Kili's abdomen where Thorin could see some ugly bruising.

"Three cracked ribs, two broken." Oin shook his head.

Thorin looked up, "I've got the bleeding slowed down."

"Good, now help me sit the lad up." Oin and Thorin moved to both sides of Kili, grabbed his arms and pulled him into a sitting position. Oin got a look at the marks on Kili's back. "Six lash marks. Lad's lucky that's all he got."

Dis gasped at the marks that littered her son's back. "Thorin, what happened?"

Thorin looked at his sister with sad eyes, "I wish I new, Dis. We found him at an abandoned orc camp in the woods."

Dis was afraid to ask, "Wh.. what about Fili?"

Thorin looked back down at the wounds on Kili's back. "Nowhere to be seen. The others are still out looking for him."

Dis closed her eyes and let unshed tears fall.

It was a few minutes before Kili was bandaged up and Thorin was able to lay him back down and make him comfortable. After he was done Thorin moved to sit by his sister. He pulled Dis into a hug and rested his head on her dark hair. "We'll find him Dis, Fili is strong, he'll make it through. Once Kili wakes up he'll be able to tell us more."

Dis nodded before looking up to Oin, "When will he wake?"

Oin hesitated a moment before answering, "I cannot yet say. There's no telling if he'll wake up at all, only time will tell."

Dis moved from Thorin's grasp to sit next to Kili. She clutched his hand in hers, bent forward and placed a kiss on his forehead. "Wake up soon, my son."

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Fili thought they must've been walking for days, though that couldn't be right. He had hadn't seen the sun set even once. That meant it was approximately a day and a half since the incident.

It seemed like ages ago when Fili watched as his younger brother was taken from him, he realized he must look as old as he felt. Fili's clothes were but rags, his eyes were red from the tears shed for Kili, he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, he didn't dare imagine how thin he must look, he hadn't eaten since the night of his capture. Nonetheless he marched on, the only thing Fili could do to distract him from his problems was to remember his happier memories. He pretended, in his mind, to be in those moments, away from all this misery.

 _"Father, can I see my new brother yet?" Fili had been begging to see Kili for a while now, he couldn't understand why they wouldn't let him see him._

 _Fili's father scooped him up, "Not yet, Fili. He's too fragile, you know he was born early."_

 _"I know, but I won't break him, I'll protect him." A bright fire shown in the dwarfling's eyes, a strong desire to meet the one who would become his best friend._

 _"Maybe a little later, your mother is trying to rest." What Fili didn't know was that his father was worried for Kili. The baby was born two nights before and Oin said he might not survive the night. Kili lived but he wasn't out the woods yet, he hadn't even opened his eyes._

 _Fili was set down and told to play outside. He didn't want to though, he wanted to see his baby brother. Once Fili's father had left to visit Thorin in the forges Fili snuck over to his parents bedroom door. He pushed it a crack open at first, to be sure his mother was asleep, he then pushed it open the rest of the way and made his way to the crib at the end of the bed._

 _Fili peeked into the crib and smiled when he saw the tiniest most precious baby he'd ever seen before. He leaned in closer and touched the baby's hand. "Kili?" Kili's eyes fluttered open to reveal a familiar shade of brown._

 _"You've got eyes just like Father!" Fili exclaimed a little too loudly._

 _"Fili? What are you doing in here?" Came the sleepy voice of Fili's mother._

 _Fili spun around to face his mother, "I'm sorry, mum, I just wanted to see Kili! I never got to before. You know, he's got eyes just like Father? They're so pretty." Fili turned back to his baby brother and let Kili's hand curl around his finger._

 _"His eyes?" Dis got up and walked over to the crib as well. "I suppose you're right, Fili, his eyes are just like Father's." Dis watched while Fili played around with his new little brother. "Fili, how would you like to hold him?"_

 _Fili's eyes lit up at the offer. He jumped up and down before running over to the bed and sitting down._

 _Dis picked baby Kili up and brought him over to Fili. She laid him his lap and scooted onto the bed next to her boys. Dis smiled at how much Fili seemed to love his new brother. Every thing would be okay. She knew it would be._

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Dis was growing tired, she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since Kili was brought home yesterday. Her son had barely made a noise and he'd been unconscious since his arrival. Dis was afraid Kili wouldn't wake up, she never left his side for long in fear of missing his awakening.

Thorin came into the room to suggest Dis get some sleep. "Dis, you've been awake too long, you'll make yourself sick."

"Thorin, I can't risk something happening while I'm gone. I have to be here for him, he's my son." Dis held Kili's hand and subconsciously rubbed the bandages on his wrists.

"I'll let you stay here a bit longer but after that you _need_ to sleep."

Dis rolled her eyes at her brother, she'd only sleep when she felt satisfied at Kili's state. "We'll see about that."

"There's... something else, too." Thorin paused and Dis turned to face him, "I'm going to be leaving soon again. I was hoping Kili would wake before I had to go- he could have given us a clue as to where they were headed- but it seems time is running out and I have to find Fili before it's too late."

Dis nodded and cast her eyes to the floor. "I understand. Please... find my son... bring him home to me."

Thorin nodded and Dis watched as he headed toward the door, but both froze as something caught their attention.

"Mum?"

 **I really enjoyed writing this one. I hope you guys are happy with it. I hope to get some more of Fili in the next one so stick with me here Fili fans. Don't forget to RR, that's one of my favorite things about writing fanfiction. You know your obsession gets real when you start writing fanfiction. I started because I ran out of good ones to read. If you wanna leave suggestions for future fanfics go ahead, I'm gonna be out of ideas after this. I'm pretty much making everything up as I go.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

"Mum?"

Dis spun around face her son. "Kili? Oh Mahal, Kili, I was so worried." Dis took Kili's face in her hands and kissed his forehead.

"What happened?" Kili blinked his eyes in a confused manner.

Thorin took this as his cue to step in. "That's what we'd like you to tell us." Thorin said, coming to a kneel at the side of Kili's bed. "We found you in the forest at an abandoned orc camp with a knife in your side."

Kili's face dawned with recognition. He paused a moment, trying to remember what had happened during his capture. "They... They chased us. They chased us into the forest. I.. I had to help Fili run, because he got hurt trying to kill a boar." Kili paused another moment. "Fili... Fili, where is he?"

Dis and Thorin gave each other a sad look.

"Where is he?" Kili looked between the two people before him, looking for an answer. "Is he here? You found him, didn't you?" His voice was turning to more of a panic now.

Thorin grabbed Kili by the hand, making the dwarf's eyes land his uncle. "He was nowhere to be seen. We were hoping you could tell us more about your capture, give us an idea of what we're walking into."

"Not here? They still have him?" Kili pinched the bridge of his nose. "It should've been me."

"Kili." The firm voice of Thorin brought Kili's attention back to his uncle. "I need you to focus. I can't help your brother if you don't tell me something"

Kili nodded his head in understanding. "Right... right. Uh.. I was helping him run but they... the orcs, tripped me. They threw a bolas at my legs." Kili lifted his pant leg to reveal deep cuts, just below the knees, that neither Thorin nor Dis had seen before.

Dis snapped out of her daze and moved to clean the newly discovered wounds.

Kili continued, "Fili tried to cut me loose, but he wasn't fast enough. The orcs came, they tied him up... I guess they were angry at me. I killed Noluk's second in command." Kili's hand went up to his throat where he softly rubbed it.

Thorin reached up and moved Kili's hand to get a look. When he saw the bruises under Kili's chin he cursed. "They'll be sorry they ever layed a hand on the sons Durin."

"They took us with them, said they wanted to show us suffering... They... whipped us that night." Kili's eyes started to fill tears at the memory of what happened. "I got off lucky, they only gave me six. Fili... Fili got ten." Kili blinked the tears away and looked into the fire his mother had started. "I don't know how long it was before he got help. He almost didn't make it. I was able to dress his wounds before they wanted us to move again."

When Kili didn't continue Thorin grabbed Kili's chin and turned his head to face him. "What happened?"

Kili blinked more tears away, "I told them that Fili couldn't continue, that.. that he would survive another day's travel. They didn't like it. That's when they did this." Kili pointed to the knife wound and gently rested his hand on his ribs. "They left me for dead, took Fili away. They'll pay for what they did."

"Did they say where they were headed?" Thorin asked.

"Uh.. Sol Ludnor, I think it was."

"Mahal."

Dis looked to Thorin. "You know where that is?"

Thorin over to his sister. "It was an old orcish prison camp, just west of the Blue Mountains. I thought it was abandoned. We ran them out of that place a long time ago. It would seem in our time of rest and prosperity the enemy has been operating under our noses."

"Fili is strong." Kili said, "If they want him to survive the trip there then he will. He promised he would make it back. I know he will."

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Fili had had enough. They were as close to the Blue Mountains as he knew they would ever be. Stopped for the night, Fili was tied to a tree on the outskirts as usual. He was sure he still had a knife or two hidden in his boots.

Fili waited till the perfect moment to act. All the orcs were asleep but one, the one left to guard him. Fili slid his right foot under him and as back as it could reach, then he slid his fingers into the boot where the tips of his fingers brushed up against the hilt of one of his knives.

Fili stretched as far as he could into his boot when he was finally able to grab hold of the knife. He slid it out and began to cut through the rope around his wrists.

When he finally cut through the rope, Fili rose slowly and quietly so add not to wake any of the sleeping dwarves. He made his way over to the orc guard, grabbed him from behind and cut his throat. Fili let the orcs fall a little too loudly than he would've liked. He hoped none of the orcs heard the assassination but he didn't stick around long enough to find out.

Fili ran as fast as he could in the direction of the Blue Mountains, it wasn't long, however, before he could hear voices coming up behind him. He kept running but he was growing quickly tired due to his still recovering injuries.

He wasn't sure how much more he could take, Fili was about to give in before he broke through the trees, collided with something and was sent went tumbling to the ground.

Fili rolled over but was greeted with a sword against his throat. Fili traced the sword to the owner and saw the face of a young human man at the other end of the blade.

"You better have a good explanation." Said the young man with fiery eyes.

"I.. I-" Fili looked around as much as he could and found that he had run into a caravan. Fili then turned his eyes back to the fiery young man. "Help."

As soon as Fili said the word orcs spilled from the woods and and attacked the caravan. The fiery man shouted an order to one of the other men in the caravan. "Seth, watch the dwarf!"

Fili watched as another man entered the scene and pulled him off the ground. The man, Seth, took him to one of the carts and pulled out his sword. "Don't move."

Fili nodded and turned back to watch the battle. The men seemed to be winning, they were skilled in battle, not as skilled as the dwarves of Erebor but still skilled.

It wasn't long before Fili spotted Noluk away from the fighting watching the battle rage. When both their eyes met Fili could see the anger in Noluk's eyes. At that moment, however, Noluk shouted an order in black speech and the orcs began to retreat.

Noluk met Fili's gaze again before shouting, "This isn't over!" Noluk turned and disappeared into the forest.

Fili's attention was redirected as the fiery man walked back up to him. "I have a few questions for you."

 **Ta da! That took a turn even I wasn't expecting! I hope you are intrigued. P.S. I might take some time off writing for a bit because of vacation. Also I wanted to suggest a fic (I think JasKD will like since you are looking for fics?) you can read in my absence. One of my favorites is A Prince's Disgrace by Neocolai. Don't forget to read and review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to the imaginations of J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.** "I have a few questions for you."

Fili stared back at the man. He would much rather be here than with the orcs. Men had a bad reputation, but it wasn't as bad as orc's.

The fiery man walked closer to Fili, he had light brown hair and blue eyes and slightly resembled the man hiding the sword to Fili's throat. "Who are you? Why were those orcs chasing you?"

Fili just continued to stare at the man. There was something interesting about him, Fili didn't know what it was, but there was definitely something that set him apart from the rest.

The fiery man must have got impatient. "Answer me!" He shouted.

Fili snapped out of his daze and answered the questions. "Fili, son of Dis." He decided to leave out the Durin's son part, it didn't always sit well with men. "I am a dwarf of the Blue Mountains. My little brother and I were captured by the orcs while out hunting for food. I just escaped from them when I ran into you."

The fiery man raised an eyebrow at him. "You said you were captured with your brother, yes?"

Fili cast his eyes down. "Yes... I was."

"And where, may I ask, is this brother of yours?"

Fili didn't look up. He kept his eyes cast down. "He's dead... They killed him not two days ago."

The fiery man seemed alarmed by this. He looked over to the man with the sword against Fili's throat- Seth, if Fili remembered correctly. Seth cast his eyes down too.

Then the fiery man turned back to Fili. "What proof do you have that any of this happened?"

Fili looked back up to the man, then over to Seth. "Lower your sword and I will show you."

Seth looked over to the fiery man who nodded his consent. Seth lowered the sword.

Fili looked back to the fiery man. "Thank you." He said. Fili then turned around to face the wagon. He reached back and lifted his tunic, revealing the lash marks on his back.

The fiery man studied the marks and various bandages that littered the young dwarf. "Very well." said the man as Fili turned around to face him again. "I can find no deceit in your story. My name is Hunter. I lead this caravan." the man said while sheathing his sword. "This is my brother, Seth." Hunter said, gesturing to the man beside Fili. "We are deeply sorry for your loss, I can't imagine the kind of grief you must feel."

Fili looked between the two brothers and then around at the rest of the crowd that had formed around them. There were many different looking people. Some looked wealthy and well fed while others looked poor and half starved. They looked nothing like any caravan Fili had ever seen before. "What kind of caravan are you?"

"We are merchants. We travel across Middle Earth collecting and selling goods." Seth chimed in. Fili guessed he was the younger of the two. He had darker, sandy, short hair, and wide blue eyes.

"I know what merchants are." Fili grumbled. He supposed that men aged differently than dwarves. They probably thought he was in his early 20s- an age where most men wouldn't have even left the confines of their own village- whereas he was actually 67- still young for a dwarf, but he knew much about the world. He had to since he was Thorin's heir. "You don't have any healers, do you?" Fili guessed he wasn't in a position to be asking for such things, but at this point he couldn't care less what their answer was. He was getting exhausted and his injuries might get infected if they weren't treated soon.

"Yes," replied Hunter, "We'll make sure you are treated. We'll figure out what to do once we get word from the healer." He turned and called into the crowd. "Esmiel." A young lady with bright blonde hair stepped forward, she had blue eyes and was wearing a green worn dress.

"Yes, Hunter?" said the young lady, Esmiel.

"You are a healer. I would like you to help this dwarf, he is our guest."

Esmiel turned to Fili and smiled. "Right this way, master dwarf." said the girl, gesturing to one of the carts.

"It's Fili." Fili said, heading in the direction Esmiel had gestured.

Esmiel followed after him and Fili couldn't help but notice her smile at Seth before they entered the cart.

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Thorin had set off again after Oin had confirmed that Kili was in the clear. On his way off, he had run into the rest of the company in town as they were returning from their search in the forest..

Balin was first to speak, "There was no sign of Fili anywhere. We followed the trail, but lost them when the trail stopped at a river." Balin shook his head before looking back to Thorin. "What's the news on Kili?"

"He woke up last night. He's in rough shape, but he'll live." Thorin paused before continuing, "He said the orcs were on their way to Sol Ludnor."

The whole company fell silent at that. It was some time before anyone spoke. Dwalin was the first to break the silence, "I guess we know where we're goin' then."

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Kili had just gotten finished with his check up with Oin. He was finally cleared to eat. Even though he didn't have much of an appetite he had to admit that he was famished. Kill hadn't eaten anything since the meal Fili had cooked up for them the night of their capture.

Dis had insisted on making Kili some nice, hot soup for his first meal at home. He wouldn't complain of course, soup was one of favorite meals, he was only sad that Fili couldn't share it with him.

Before long Dis walked in with two steaming bowls of soup in her hands. She smiled as Kili took the bowl from her hands.

For a few moments the two ate in silence, at least until Kili broke it. "Do you think Uncle will find him?"

Dis looked up from her bowl to see Kili staring ahead, blankly at the wall. She set down her food and collected Kili's hands in hers. "I may not know everything, by Durin, I don't know much at all... but I do know one thing: Thorin will not return here without something to give us. It may not be Fili, but it will be something to give us hope. If what you say is true, then I know Fili is alive right now, and that alone gives my enough hope to carry on."

Kili blinked his tears away before looking back down to his mother, "It should have been me, mum. I was the one they wanted to get at, they should have taken me. It should be Fili here eating food and laying in bed."

"Kili, you can't change what happened. It was _not_ your choice to be left behind." Dis moved to sit on the end of the bed. I could never wish that fate on either of my sons. I love you both equally. You may think you deserve to be in Fili's shoes, but I can tell you neither one of you boys deserve it. Our only choice is to work with what we are given. I was given you, not Fili, so I need you to work with me so we can get him back."

Kili looked into his mother's eyes. "I know, mum, I know... I just miss him."

"I know you do." Dis moved to sit next to Kili on the bed. She wrapped her arms around her son. "He'll be home soon. I know that for a fact."

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Fili and Esmiel sat quietly while she worked. Fili was intrigued at her gentleness- he'd had to be healed many times before, but never had he had one with such gentle hands. He hardly even noticed when she rubbed the ointments on his back.

Esmiel was the first to speak, "I haven't had to work on too many dwarves in my line of work."

Fili chuckled, "Trust me, we need healers just as much as the next guy, if not more. My brother would get in the worst sort of trouble growing up, but I was always there to get him out."

"I wouldn't know about that, I'm an only child." said the girl.

Fili's breath hitched at the sudden realization, he was now an only child now, too. "I guess that gives us something in common." Fili said flatly.

Esmiel paused her work a moment before starting up again. "I'm sorry... I.. I didn't realize-"

"Don't worry about it." Fili decided a change of subject was in need. "You seem fond of that Seth fellow."

Esmiel had Fili turn around so she could bandage his wrists, when he did he could see that she was smiling. "We are betrothed." Fili returned the smile. "We get married next month. I don't think I could be happier."

Fili was just about to reply when the door to the cart was opened and Hunter and Seth entered.

"What've you got, Essy?" Seth asked.

"His wounds are cleaned and bandaged, but I think it would be wise to let him take a day or two of rest before he leaves." Esmiel answered.

"The sooner he leaves the better. He can't stay long" Hunter said bluntly, before turning and leaving the cart.

"Well he's a delightful fellow." Fili said.

"I'll go talk to him. " said Seth before he turned and followed after his brother.

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Seth ran to catch up to Hunter, he waited till he matched his brother's stride to start talking. "What was that about?"

Hunter didn't bother to look Seth in the eyes. "We have to get moving soon. He has to leave."

"You and I both know that's not true. Now what's going on?" Seth grabbed Hunter by the shoulder and turned him around.

Hunters voice was brought to a whisper. "We can't risk him finding out what we carry."

"He won't survive if we leave him now. Is that what Martha would have done?"

Hunter paused a moment and contemplated. "No... no it's not. He can stay, but not for long." with that Hunter left and headed to his personal cart and Seth turned and headed back to the healing cart.

 **A bit of mystery going on here. Hope you enjoyed. Just wanna clear up that there is nothing blooming between Esmiel and Fili, Esmiel is betrothed to Seth and will be unless I say differently. Remember to leave a review! Thank you!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.** **Hey guys! I'm back from vacation! Branson is beautiful this time of year. I wrote this on the car ride home, I hope you like it!**

Fili looked up as Seth re-entered the cart. "So, I guess this is goodbye?"

"No," Seth said, "You can stay, but only until you are healed, then you _must_ leave."

Fili rose and bowed to the young man, "I thank you for your hospitality, I will not take it lightly."

"It was nothing," Seth slid his arm around Esmiel's waist before continuing, "Hunter can be difficult at times, he just needs a little persuasion."

"Don't we all." Fili smiled, though his smiles, now, were never true. Kili was gone and it weighed on his mind constantly. "Forgive me, my friends, I am worn and need sleep. I hope you won't mind if I lie down for a while."

Esmiel smiled, "If course not, you are our guest, feel free to sleep as long as you like. It will help the healing process."

"Thank you. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

"There is no need. Just rest." Esmiel said as she pulled Seth after her out the door, and before long Fili was left alone with his dreams.

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"Levi, guard the door of the healing cart." Seth ordered, "Should he decide to leave the cart follow him and keep him out of trouble. Do not let him find our cargo."

The young man with light brown hair and blue eyes obeyed the order given to him and stood guard outside of the healing cart.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Esmiel.

"It is if we want to keep our way of life." Seth said, turning to his betrothed, "We know nothing of this dwarf, we don't even know if he's telling the truth."

"You've seen him just as I have." Esmiel looked into Seth's eyes, "He g _grieves_ , Seth, he grieves for the loss of a sibling."

Seth looked away from his love, " _I_ can see it, but Hunter is too stubborn. He's not the way he once was. He used to be involved, he used to care about everyone and everything, but now he's separated. He's cut us off from the rest of the world. This is no way to live our lives."

"He worries for you. I know it may seem like he's separating himself from you, but he's scared to lose you." Esmiel turned Seth's face to look at her again, "Losing you would break him just as much as it would break me."

Seth smiled, "I suppose I don't give him enough credit. He's a great leader, someday maybe he may even be better than father was." Seth pulled Esmiel closer, "What would I ever do without your advice?"

"Probably watch the world burn." Esmiel giggled at the offended look that appeared on Seth's face. She wiped the look away with a brief kiss. "You know you love me."

Seth's grin stretched from ear to ear, "More than _anything_."

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 _Fili walked. He walked the the woods he knew so well. The woods he and Kili would play in when they were younger. The woods that always seemed to have something more to find. The woods that seemed to bring so much joy in his younger years._

 _Fili walked and walked for this was the place he could feel Kili's presence. His brother loved the woods. Fili would play with him because he liked seeing Kili happy. The woods are what made Kili the most happy, Fili supposed they made him feel alive._ _Fili breathed in the fresh air. He supposed he should enjoy this time, but it was less enjoyable without Kili there._

 _Fili's attention was caught by a familiar voice behind him._

 _"Brother."_

 _Fili spun around to see Kili standing before him, only, Kili didn't have his usual smile shining on his face._ _"Kili?" Fili took a couple steps closer to his little brother, "You're supposed to be dead. How are you here?" a small smile started to appear on Fili's face, one that soon disappeared when Kili spoke again._

 _"Why didn't you stop them?" Fili could see no emotion in his brother's eyes._

 _"I... I'm sorry. I wanted to, Mahal, I wanted more than anything to." Fili's eyes were beginning to water._

 _"You were supposed to be there. You were supposed to stop them. It's_ your _fault I'm gone." Kili's face remained unchanged as he spat the words out._

 _"Kili, I'm so, so sorry... I wish I could switch places with you right this moment."_

 _"You're_ weak _. You were too_ scared _to step in. Scared that_ you _would be the one to die."_

 _"No... no, I would have stepped in right away if I could. I wish... I wish I had the chance to do it over again."_

 _"And if you did, would things go any differently?"_

 _Fili remained silent, too ashamed of his past actions to answer._

 _Kili scoffed, "That's what I thought. I'm_ nothing _to you." This was the first sign of emotion Fili saw from the ghost of his brother. Kili's eyes went downcast and he lowered his head. When he looked up again he had blood at the corners of his mouth. "Goodbye, Fili."_

 _Kili started to cough and Fili could see more blood dripping from Kili's mouth. "KILI!" Fili rushed to where his brother was standing just in time to catch him and lower him to the ground._

 _Fili saw a blood spot appear on Kili's abdomen where he had been stabbed by Noluk. Kili looked back up at Fili and smiled before his eyes glazed over and he was left staring up at the sky. Fili felt Kili's skin go from warm to cold. He placed his hand to his brother's face and closed Kili's eyes._

 _Fili's eyes were red and tears poured down his face. He pulled Kili close to his chest and cried, "Kili... oh Kili, I'm so sorry... What can I do to make things right?"_

 _Fili weeped over the body of his baby brother. Weeping soon turned to cries of anger. Anger at the gods for letting his brother go. Anger at the orcs, at Noluk, for taking Kili from him. Anger at himself for not being able to stop them. Anger that the woods- the place Kili found life- had become his brother's grave._

Fili awoke to somebody shaking him. He opened his eyes to see another set of blue eyes staring back at him. Fili jumped up from the cot he was sleeping on and backed up against the wall.

The other pair of blue eyes was the first to speak. "You were having a nightmare, master dwarf. You were shouting, so I decided to wake you."

Still a little dazed from his nightmare, Fili stared at the young boy, he couldn't be more than 16 in the years of men, though he was quite a bit taller than Fili. "Thank you, master-?" Fili looked at the boy expectantly.

"Master Levi, but you can just call me Levi, master dwarf." The young lad said.

"My name is Fili, son of Dis, but you can just call me Fili." Fili relaxed a bit, seeing that this boy was of no threat to him.

"Well, master Fili, perhaps you would like to get some fresh air?"

Fili decided to let the ' _master_ ' part slide. He supposed this was the proper way Levi was trained to treat guests. "I would like that very much."

Levi smiled, seeing that he was already making a new friend. "Right this way." Levi gestured to the door of the cart.

Fili stepped out the door of the cart and breathed in the fresh air. It was nice being free. Freedom was the only thing to keep his mind off of Kili.

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Kili grumbled in pain as he took another step towards the door of his bedroom. He had been in bed for almost three days now, he would stay no longer, Fili needed him _right now_.

Another step, another grumble. "Argh!"

Kili took another step forward but instead stepped on a pillow which threw his legs out from under him. Kili fell with a ' _thud_ ' and let out a louder groan from the pain in his ribs and side.

It wasn't long before Kili heard the pattering of feet up the stairs and the door to his bedroom open. He was in for it now.

"Kili! What in Middle Earth are you doing." Shouted Kili's mother as she rushed to his side.

"Walking, mum... I would have made it too, if only that stupid pillow wasn't in the way." Kili complained as Dis helped him to a nearby chair.

"That pillow wasn't so 'stupid' when you were in bed the other day, now, was it?" Dis stepped away and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kili bit his lip before continuing, "Well, the other day that pillow wasn't keeping me from getting to Fili."

Dis's expression changed from one of sarcasm to one of pity. "Is that what this is about?"

"Yes, mum. He needs me and I'm sitting here on my bum! I can't take it anymore!" Kili buried his face in his hands. He only looked up when he felt his mother's hand rubbing comforting circles on his back.

Dis smiled down at her youngest son, "You're not going to get anywhere sitting in that chair, are you now?"

Kili's face lit up, "You're going to help me? I thought Oin said one week before I was allowed to walk."

"Screw what Oin said, we will find away around this just as we always have."

"Thanks, mum."

Dis threw her hand out to Kili, "So are you ready to walk?"

 **There you have it! Chapter 12. My first chapter home from vacation. How about some reviews! You know how I love to hear your inputs.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Here we go guys! I've got some pretty good ideas coming so why don't you check them out here!**

 _"Hunter!"_

 _Hunter spun around at the sound of his name being called. "Martha!"_

 _"Hunter!" the girl called again, "Help me!"_

 _"I'm coming!" Hunter rushed to her aid. He rushed through the trees trying to find the girl, he looked left and right for any sign of her. "Martha!"_

 _No reply._ _"Martha! Answer me!" Hunter looked about desperately, "Martha!"_

Hunter let out a gasp and sat up in his bed. He was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Once he realized it had only been a nightmare he was able to relax a bit. He buried his face on his hands as silent tears dripped down his face. It was a long time before Hunter had the heart to rise up and leave his private wagon, even when he did he was in a sour mood.

Why was this nightmare affecting him this much? He never let things get to him, not anymore. He was supposed to be strong... for his people. How could he be strong if a little nightmare made him curl into a ball and cry like a baby? Pathetic, Father was never pathetic. He would have to try much harder if he was to be anywhere close to the kind of man his father was. But how could he?

Nothing was ever going the way it should, not since _that_ day. They were suppose to pass the Blue Mountains subtly, not pick up a stray dwarf who could potentially ruin the whole deal.

Dwarves were clever creatures, snoopy too- which is what made them a nuisance. Hunter had made it his goal to reach their destination without bothering the dwarrow, they were few in numbers but fierce, nonetheless. That's what made them such feared warriors- granted the elves would disagree, but Hunter would never underestimate them.

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Fili wandered the caravan. It was the night before last even he first came upon these people and Esmiel still insisted he stay another night. The merchants seemed kind, for the most part, but something was off about them- it seemed that nobody wanted to carry a conversation, Fili supposed it might just be that they weren't used to a dwarf in the caravan. Still, Fili couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Another odd thing was that Levi had barely left his side since the day before, Fili enjoyed the company but he would've thought the lad had something else to do rather than follow him around.

Fili then decided to break the awkward silence, "So, Levi... You seem a little young to be traveling in a caravan of merchants." Fili cocked an eyebrow at the boy.

"I... uh.. well, my father is traveling in the.. uh.. caravan. There is nobody at home to take care of me, so I.. had to come." The lad seemed nervous while talking about this subject.

"And what of your mother? Is she in the caravan as well?" Fili inquired.

"No," Levi's eyes refused to meet Fili's, "She died when I was very young."

Fili's eyes saddened, "I'm sorry... I-"

"It's okay. You didn't know." Levi reassured, "I barely remember her. I wasn't even old enough to mourn her loss."

"I know what you mean." Fili placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "When.. my father died, my brother... Kili, wasn't old enough to understand." Fili smiled sadly and shook his head, "It took me a while to get him to understand that he wasn't coming back. Now that Kili's gone, I've had to convince myself of the same truth."

Levi looked at Fili with interest, "Master Fili, you always speak well of your brother. Were you two close?"

Fili's eyes met Levi's, "He was my closest friend and dearest companion. I loved him more than _anything_... When he died.. it was like a part of me died with him."

Levi could almost feel the emotion Fili was showing. "I guess I wouldn't know what that felt like. I suspect I'll always be an only child."

Fili's hand dropped from Levi's shoulder, "Levi, the honor of being an older brother was the greatest gift I've ever had the pleasure of receiving," Fili's eyes turned downcast, "My greatest regret is letting it slip away."

Levi looked forward again as they continued forward. Both walked in silence for a while as both were lost in their own thoughts. It was some time before either spoke.

"Are you hungry, master Fili?" Levi questioned.

Fili thought about it a moment before answering, it was past noon as it was and he hadn't had anything to eat since that morning, he supposed it would be good to eat even if he didn't have an appetite. "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

Levi smiled, "If you stay here I think I can nab some soup from the cooks' wagon."

"Why not?" Fili smiled at the mischievous look on the boy's face, it reminded him of the look Kili would give whenever he was about to try one of his new pranks.

Without another word Levi turned and headed in the direction of the food carts.

Fili watched till Levi was out of sight, then something else caught his attention. He could hear some voices arguing from one of the nearby wagons. At fist Fili figured it best just to ignore the voices until one voice said something in particular to catch his attention.

"Do you know what would happen if we are caught carrying these?"

Once this was said Fili couldn't resist peeking in the wagon. He moved to the side of the cart and found a crack big enough to look through. What he saw made his heart skip a beat.

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Kili was doing well- it had only been a day since his tumble on the bedroom floor, but he was already up and walking about on his own. He still had trouble with stairs but, honestly, how many stairs would he be encountering in the forest.

Kili could hear the door downstairs open, then close, then he heard the voice of his mother.

"Thorin! Welcome home. I hope you have good news?" She sounded anxious, but, unfortunately for Kili, the rest if the conversation was too quiet to hear. He decided that he would head down himself- show Thorin how he had recovered- and find out what was happening. Had they found Fili? There was only one way to find out.

Kili made his way slowly, but surely, down the stairs to the kitchen/dining room. Every step he took hurt, but he would have to suffer through it.

When he made it to the room the first thing Kili noticed was the distraught look on Dis' face, then he looked to Thorin who was trying to comfort her and hadn't seemed to notice Kili enter.

"What is going on?" Kili dreaded the answer he might receive.

Thorin jumped slightly, but quickly composed himself before turning around. "Kili... I hadn't expected you to be out of bed yet."

"I'm a quick healer, now _what_ is going on?" Kili wanted to get straight to the point.

Thorin motioned for Kili to sit- an offer that Kili happily excepted considering how tired he was after his descent down the stairs.

Then Thorin continued, "We found no sign of Fili anywhere in or around Sol Ludnor."

Kili gave a confused look, "That's good, isn't it?"

Thorin shook his head, "I'm not sure. We followed the path back to where we found you and there were no orcs to be seen. I... expect the worst."

"But you don't know." Kili countered, "He might have escaped! Maybe he's still out there!"

"If he had escaped don't you think he'd be _here_ by now? I don't want to believe it any more than you do, but I'm running out of options."

"We'll keep looking. He's got to be out there somewhere! He _promised_ he'd come home." Kili was getting close to tears. How could his uncle give up on Fili so easily?

"How long do you expect me to look before you will finally except that he is _gone_?" Thorin tried to keep as gentle as possible, but was getting irritated at his nephews stubbornness.

"However long it takes to find him!" Kili didn't bother hiding his frustration. "I don't care if you give up, leave him out there, but I will n _never_ stop searching till I know what happened to my brother! He never gave up on me... never abandoned me to face my troubles on my own, so why should I abandon him now? When he has never needed me more!"

Thorin wiped his hand over his face, "I'm sorry Kili... you're right. If Fili's still out there I could never forgive myself if I didn't go after him." Thorin turned to face his sister again, "I will leave tomorrow morning to search the forest, however I do not blame the others if they choose not to come, they've done more than enough as it is."

"Let me come." Kili begged, "I'm ready, I can go."

"Kili," came the voice of Thorin's sister, "You've only just started to walk. You _can't_ go out there again!" Dis was tearing up.

"I _have_ to do this, mum. He's my brother, I _need_ to be there for him." Kili stood and walked over to his mother.

Dis looked to Thorin to join her side, "I can't make this choice for him, Dis. I fear he will come no matter what I say."

Dis looked back to Kili, "I just... I _can't_ lose you again." Dis choked out.

Kili pulled his mother into a hug, "I won't be alone this time." Dis just cried into his shoulder, "I'll come home to you, mum."

Dis nodded, "Promise me."

"I promise."

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Fili peeked in and noticed the two voices inside were Hunter and Seth, though that wasn't what interested him so. The two men were surrounded by hundreds of weapons, but the weapons weren't ordinary weapons.

"Mithril." Fili muttered under his breath.

Mithril, the forge of the elves. Elves never gave their weaponry willingly, there was no way this was legal. These were no merchants, these were thieves he was with. He was glad more than ever that he kept his Durin name silent, there's no telling what these people would do if they found out.

Fili was suddenly grabbed from behind and spun about to face who grabbed him.

"What are you doing, master Fili?" Levi asked with wide eyes.

"I.. I heard voices, I couldn't help myself." Fili shook his head.

"Do you have any idea what they'll do to me if they find out I left you alone?"

Now things were coming together, Levi was ordered to watch him, that's why he was always around. "I won't tell, I promise. It would forfeit my place in this caravan."

"Thank you, master Fili, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." Levi breathed a sigh of relief.

"My family has never been fond of the elves anyways. How did you ever get your hands on these?" Fili questioned.

"I don't know. I'm not a thief, I only help around the caravan."

"Right." Fili said and for the first time noticed that Levi was wet smelled of potatoes and carrots. "What happened with the soup?"

Levi looked down at his wet clothes, "I.. uh, got caught."

Fili laughed, "Maybe you need some lessons from the master."

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Hunter left the weapon wagon in a bad mood. How could Seth even consider letting that dwarf stay another night? It could be putting their lives in danger. Why could his brother see that he was just trying to protect his people?

Hunter ground his teeth together. That nightmare had put him in an unusually bad mood that day.

 _"Hunter! Help me!"_

 _"Martha!"_

Nightmare. Only it wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory.

 **Dun dun dun! I thought that was a good chapter, how about you guys? What do you guys think of a background story for the next chapter? It would give some background to my OCs and let you know more about them. Let me know if it's a good idea.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Sooo.. I'm back! This chapter is background to Hunter and Seth. So you're not in the dark, it's starting out when Hunter is about 4 years old and his father's name is Markus, so when you hear the name Markus you know who I'm talking about. Hope you enjoy!**

Hunter sat patiently at the dining room table with his father. "When can we go in, Da?" asked the little boy.

"Not yet, Hunter. They aren't finished." Markus' leg bounced impatiently.

"But _when_ will they be finished?" Hunter whined as he crossed his arms on the table.

Markus looked the boy in the eyes and smiled, "There's no way to know. You know it takes a lot of time for a baby to be born." the cries of Hunter's mother, Mercy, could be heard periodically from the bedroom.

"Well I don't like it," Hunter fussed, "I want to see the baby now!"

"Believe me, my boy, I want the exact same thing you do, but we just have to wait."

Hunter rested his chin on his crossed arms, "Da, am I going to have a brother or a sister?"

Markus rubbed Hunter's back, "We'll only know when we see the baby."

Hunter let out an impatient sigh, "This is taking _too_ long."

"Patience, my boy, they'll be done soon enough."

A few more agonizing minutes passed before a crying baby could be heard in the other room. Markus quickly rose from his seat, opened the door to the room and entered, leaving Hunter alone at the table.

Hunter slid down from his seat and walked, slowly to the bedroom door. He peeked in to see his mother and father hovering over a bundle of blankets in Mercy's arms. The doctor backed off to give the family some room. Mercy looked over to find Hunter in the doorway and smiled. "Come here, Hunter."

Hunter inched his way closer to the bed and peeked into the bundle to find a peacefully sleeping baby inside. Hunter smiled.

Markus took it as his turn to talk, "We want you to meet your new little sister... her name is Martha."

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7 YEARS LATER

"Come on Hunter! Please?" Seth begged.

"No, Seth, you're too young! Only Martha and I are allowed in the tree house!" Hunter shouted down to his youngest sibling.

"Mummy won't know! You're supposed to play with me!" Seth continued whining.

"Ugh... why can't we play _without_ you for a little while?"

Martha appeared next to Hunter and elbowed him in the side, "If he can't come up here to play with us, I guess _we_ will have to go down there to play with him."

Hunter sighed in irritation, "He always ruins our fun! Why can't he go play somewhere else?"

"Because... there are no other boys his age for him to play with." Martha countered.

"What about that Garreth boy?"

"Of course not!" Martha slugged Hunter's arm, "That Garreth is the meanest boy in the village! You don't want little Seth to end up like _him,_ do you?"

Hunter contemplated this a moment, "I guess not... Fine, we'll go play with him, but when his nap time comes it's just you and me."

Martha let the rope ladder down and climbed down to meet her little brother.

"Thank you Martha!" Seth jumped forward and crushed his big sister with a hug.

"It was nothing, Seth. Now how about we go hunt some wolves?" Martha only meant pretend ones of course, but that didn't keep Seth from getting excited about it.

Seth looked past Martha and over to Hunter who had just made it down the ladder. "You can be the wolf, Hunter."

"If I'm the wolf then you better run, cause I'm getting hungry!" Hunter growled as he took a step toward Seth, who was quickly running away squealing and giggling.

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5 YEARS LATER

"Hunter, we have to be strong." Martha comforted, "She would have wanted us to be."

"How, Martha? It's not just that she's gone." Hunter buried his head in his hands as he sat down in a chair, "Everything is going to change, Da has to work- he's leader of a caravan, for crying out loud- and what do you think will happen to us?"

"Father would never leave us at with anyone but his most trusted friends."

"He works with his most trusted friends. There's no where for us to go." Hunter looked up to his younger sister.

"I may only be twelve years old, but I know Da. He would never leave us alone." Martha shook her head.

"I hope you're right." Hunter said quietly, "Poor Seth, he's only nine, he shouldn't have to live without his mother."

"It's not fair, Hunter, really it isn't, but we've got no other choice but to go on without her." Martha rubbed Hunter's back.

Hunter rested his forehead on his wrist, "You're right, Martha, none of my whining is going to bring her back. I just... don't know what to _do_."

"Luckily, you don't _have_ to know what to do. Da is going to have a plan. He always does."

Martha always had a way of making, even the worst of situations seem like a passing storm. That's just one thing Hunter admired about his sister. He was proud to be her big brother, she was the best little sister he could have asked for. Martha was kind, understanding, and compassionate, she always saw the best in people and was always in bright spirits. Hunter couldn't imagine life without his sister by his side, she was his solid ground. Without her he would crumble. Hunter was responsible for her as any big brother should be of their siblings.

It was different with Seth- Hunter adored the young boy. Who wouldn't?- there was just too much of an age gap for them to be so close. Hunter would easily die for either of his siblings, Seth just couldn't relate to Hunter the way Martha could. Hunter and Martha could read each other's thoughts, they were connected in a way no one else could understand. Hunter liked it that way.

"How are you two doing?" The voice of Markus broke through Hunter's thoughts.

Martha was first to reply to their father's question, "As well as could be expected I suppose. What about Seth?"

"The boy hasn't left his room all day. He's taking it hard now, but... I think he'll be all right." Markus rubbed the back of his neck.

Hunter met his father's eyes, "What's going to happen to us?"

Markus looked intently at his oldest son, "You are of age now, my son. You are too begin learning my trade so that you may take my place someday. You and your siblings will join my caravan."

"So we are to be nomads, then?" Hunter questioned.

"In a way, I suppose." Markus crossed his arms, "It is the only way. I desire to keep you all close by. I couldn't leave you behind."

Martha stepped forward and into her father's arms, "As long as we're with you we'll be alright."

Markus patted Martha on the head, "It's a dangerous road. You must all stay close and follow the rules."

"We will, Da."

"We leave tomorrow to join with the rest of the caravan. Make sure you have all your belongings together, I will take care of Seth."

Hunter rose to leave, "Yes, Da."

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5 YEARS LATER

"I dunno, Martha, I never liked the guy." Hunter laughed.

"Oh shut up! He's the first guy to actually take notice of me." Martha punched Hunter's shoulder.

Both eyes were turned when they heard the pattering of feet behind them.

"What's going on guys?" Came the voice of their little brother, Seth.

"Oh nothing, It's only Martha is in _love_." Hunter teased.

"Shut up! Why'd you go and tell him?" Martha grumbled.

Seth's eyes lit up, "In love? Wait till Da hears! Who is it, anyways?"

"You're _not_ telling Da! And keep quiet, do you want the whole world to hear you?" Martha scolded.

"Alright fine. Just... who is it?" Seth nagged.

"Gabriel. But don't tell anybody!"

"Oh come on! You know me." Seth smiled cheekily at his big sister.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Go on get out of here." Martha started pushing Seth away when a shout was heard across the camp.

"Orcs!" It cried.

Before long Markus was seen coming the front of the caravan. "Stay close and draw your weapons! Prepare to fight!"

Suddenly an arrow flew from the trees right past Hunter and struck a nearby wagon. "That was a close one."

"Move!" Martha pushed Hunter towards where their father and Seth were a few yards away.

The two were both on their way when an orc jumped from the woods and knocked Martha to the ground. The orc was about to pounce on her when Hunter pulled out his sword and drove it through the back of the hideous creature. The orc fell dead to the ground beside Martha.

Martha grabbed the hand that Hunter held out to her, "Thank you." she gasped

"I wouldn't let you go that easily." Hunter winked at her.

When the two looked up they were separated from Markus and Seth by dozens of orcs. There seemed to be no end to how many would spill from the woods.

"Da!" Hunter shouted.

Markus looked up and met his son's eyes, "Stay together! I will find you!"

Hunter must have been distracted, because the next thing he knew he was being pulled by the hand after Martha. Her grip was tight and it was obvious that she wouldn't let go.

The two were forced to stop a short ways later and both held swords at the ready. One by one they killed the orcs, however it seemed the more they killed the more orcs there were.

A never ending sea of death and destruction. But what could be done? _Nothing_. Every last member of the caravan would hold their ground and fight till their last breath. Hunter and Martha both insisted on being a part of that. They would go down with a fight.

Just when he thought the hoard was finally thinning an orc broke through and tackled Hunter to the ground. He could hear his name called by Martha, who seemed not to be too far away. The orc had Hunter pinned and was lifting his mace to finish him off when all of the sudden he jolted and fell forward onto Hunter.

Hunter pushed the orc off of him and turned to see an arrow protruding from the orc's back. He picked the arrow out and examined the tip. It was brightly shining in the sun and very sharp, unlike any arrow Hunter had ever seen before. He had to question where it came from, however he soon got his answer.

A tall figure appeared from the trees on horse back. The figure was unlike any man Hunter had seen. He was tall with long brown hair, bright shining blue eyes and the purest face ever seen. This was no man at all.

 _Elves_

More elves quickly appeared behind the first and soon the whole caravan was a rage of flying arrows and swinging swords. Hunter was snapped out of his daze when a body fell next to him. He looked down into the dead eyes of a particularly fierce looking elf. The elf has and orcish arrow in his chest. Hunter was about to turn away when a glimmer caught his eye. He moved closer and picked up the sword from the dead hands of the elf. It shined brighter than any sword he had seen before.

"Hunter!"

Hunter spun around at the sound of his name being called. "Martha!"

"Hunter!" the girl called again, "Help me!"

"I'm coming!" Hunter rushed to her aid. He rushed through the trees trying to find the girl, he looked left and right for any sign of her. "Martha!"

No reply.

"Martha! Answer me!" Hunter looked about desperately. "Martha!"

Hunter clutched the Elven sword tightly in his hand. "Martha, where are you?"

Hunter heard a scream coming from not too far away. He ran as fast as he could in the direction of the scream. When he broke through the trees he came upon the sight of an orc pulling his sword from the stomach of his sister.

"MARTHA!" Hunter rushed forward and took the orc by surprise. He cut across the orc's chest with the eleven sword then stabbed him through the heart.

Once the orc dropped dead Hunter fell to his knees beside Martha and pulled her close to him. "Martha? Martha, _please_ talk to me."

Martha coughed in his arms and opened her eyes. "Hunter... It... it hurts."

"I know.. I know it does. You just gotta stay with me. Stay with me and it'll be alright." Hunter reassured.

"Are you... you saying that.. to me? Or.. to you?" Martha gasped out.

"To _you_ , Martha! Please! Stay! I... I'm not _ready_ to live without you." Hunter's eyes were filed with tears.

"No one... is.. ever ready.. to live without... the ones they... love." Martha coughed out, "It's... not a choice... It's a.. curse."

"I can't let you do this!" Hunter shouted.

"It'll be... alright. I.. lived."

"No... no you never got to. You're too young!"

"I... would never... trade.. my own life.. for any... other. I'm ready, now."

"I'm _not_ ready! What am I supposed to _do_? What do I do without _you_?" Hunter hugged her tighter.

"Live... for me." Martha gasped and coughed, then, it all stopped and Hunter was left holding her motionless form.

"No... NO! This isn't how it's supposed to go!" Hunter cried into Martha's hair, "This isn't how is supposed to go." He whispered.

Hunter held Martha for many long moments before he felt a presence behind him. "Hunter?"

Hunter looked up into his baby brother's eyes. "Seth."

Seth looked at Martha's form in Hunter's arms and choked up. "Martha?" He fell to his knees, "Not you too. Please... not you too."

"Seth... where's Da?" Hunter inquired.

Seth refused to meet his brother's eyes. "We're alone now, Hunter. It's just me and you."

Hunter gasped. Da was gone too? Not Martha and Da! Both of them in one day? His family must be cursed.

Seth leaned closer to Hunter, "You're the leader now. You're the leader of the caravan. What's left of them, anyway."

Hunter didn't respond. The day had started like any other. How could things have gone so wrong? Hunter didn't know. The only thing he knew fire sure was that his life would be changed forever.

 **There you go. Background on my OCs. I hope that clears things up a bit. I will probably add in extra bits of information concerning their past in upcoming chapters. One more thing, Markus wasn't stealing Mithril when he was leader, I'll clear that up later. Next chapter will be back to normal with my same story.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Hello my faithful readers. I LOVED writing this first bit! You can't read it and tell me you didn't _feel_ what was written. I think that little bit is probably some of my best work. I think it deserves some reviews and favorites. If you haven't pressed the 'favorite' button yet, I would love it if you would. I'd like to get his story out there. Not too many people reading Hobbit stuff anymore.**

Fili breathed in the fresh air.

 _Home_ He was _finally_ headed home. It lightened his heart a bit to think of seeing his mum and uncle Thorin again. It seemed like ages ago when he and Kili first set off on their ill-fated quest- Fili's first mistake of many in the past week. He had left the caravan early that morning to get a good start on his trip home. _If only Kili were coming home, too._

 _But I won't be. Will I brother?"_ Kili's voice played in his head, _And it's_ your _fault. You could have stopped them."_

Fili bowed his head, "I'm sorry, Kili." Fili whispered, "Please, stop torturing me. It... it's just, everything I touch seems to break."

 _"You thought I was safe from your curse."_ "I suppose I could never imagine myself without you by my side, now... now I can hardly imagine you by me again." Fili marched on while listening to his brother's words.

 _"Nothing is safe. Nothing is sure. Nothing is permanent, only death."_ "The curse of the Durin's had dragged us so far already." Fili shook his head, "We lost everything... Grandfather, Great-grandfather, Uncle Frerin, Father, even our home for Mahal's sake, but it crossed the line when it took you... I will _not_ let it take mum or Thorin, they will die a peaceful death. We are the last of the Durin's, and we will _not_ go down without a fight."

 _"Fire layed low your warriors of old."_ Fili listened as Kili's voice slowly morphed into something sinister, something _evil._ _" You think you can save them from the fire? They will burn!"_

Fili's eyes widened and he halted his steps, "You are _not_ my brother!" Fili shouted at the voice, though to others it would seem at nothing, "Get out of my head! You disrespect his memory by using his voice, but you... YOU ARE _NOT_ HIM!" Fili's eyes began to water as he fell to his knees. This time he whispered, "My brother was kind, he was with me even when all the world seemed to be against me. To him there was no evil in the world. Surely nothing could be bad if it came from _this_ beautiful world. How could it be?" Fili wiped more tears from his eyes, "Kili kept me going when times were at their worst... he's what's keeping me going now."

Fili rose to his feet with a new strength, a strength that only Kili could help him muster. In his heart Fili knew that Kili was still with him, and it gave him strength to carry on.

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"Seth." Came the strong voice of Hunter as he marched through the camp.

"Yes, brother?" Seth said, turning to face him.

Hunter came to a stop in front of him and crossed his arms, "I should like to think the dwarf has been sent on his way?"

 _Typical._ Thought Seth _. No 'how are you today, brother' just straight to the point._ "We made sure he was in good health and well fed. He left early this morning to go back to the Blue Mountains."

"Good," Hunter said, moving his hands to his hips, "We leave in an hour. Be sure everyone in the caravan is prepared."

"As you wish, Hunter." Seth turned away from his brother to spread the news. He had never questioned Hunter's leading methods before, he always thought Hunter knew best.

Seth had always looked up to his older brother, held him on a pedestal, however, now, Hunter was slowly falling from that pedestal. Seth feared he and Hunter's relationship could never be the same, they had argued more in that week than they had in their entire lives.

Hunter had spent his life distancing himself from people so that he wouldn't be hurt. Seth was the only one he would let in the walls he built up, but, now, Hunter was beginning to distance himself from him, too, and that hurt Seth more than anything. They were supposed to look after each other, watch each other's backs. _I guess we can see the men turned out to be instead._

Seth didn't know much about being a man. He had learned from Hunter that a man has to be tough, like a fortress. Nothing can get inside whilst you defend it. You let your walls go undefended and they get torn down, letting your enemies get in.

A man had to be dependable, like a bridge. A bridge has to be dependable to hold the weight of everyone that passes over it. A poor bridge will crumble and rot, leaving all the people who trusted it to the mercy of the waters below.

A man has to be strong, like a lion. A lion has duty to protect his pride, his family. When the lion is weak, he is defeated and his pride abandoned to face unimaginable dangers, alone.

A man cannot let his weakness show. When you show weakness you are vulnerable to attack by predators who seek weakened prey. If you let your weakness show you'll be ruined.

A man cannot falter, like the river. People depend on the river for survival, it provides means for drink, bath and watering crops. Without it the people of the village would die. But suppose one day the river decided to stop flowing. All life around it would plunge into chaos.

But since Seth had met Esmiel, he had learned a great deal more about what a man should be.

A man should be kind. The act of kindness one man should show to his neighbor could effect the lives of many- for the better that is.

A man should be joyful. How can a man expect his people to flourish without laughter and joy? When a man expresses his joy it inspires others around him, let's them forget about their troubles for _one_ moment and enjoy the presence of a friend.

A man should be caring. If he can provide for the means of his family but has no care for their well-being, what kind of example would he be? A man that cares for his family will find that there is love to be found there as well.

A man should be able to fail. He cannot be perfect, always. He will fail sometimes and that's okay. Your friends will except you for your failures and take you as you are. If your weaknesses don't show, how do you expect to fix them?

Seth had learned so much from Essy, he couldn't imagine where he would be without her by his side. Hunter still has a long way to go, but there is still hope for him.

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"It would seem our lad is back on his feet, again." Balin said as he walked over to Kili and gave him a hug.

"You don't think I'd let a few injuries stop me from getting back into the fight, did you?" Kili smiled.

Dwalin chuckled, "No matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to get yourself killed."

"And you know how hard I try."

Thorin crossed his arms, "I'd tie you to the bed myself, if your mother let me."

"Ha! You really think that would stop me?" Kili cocked an eyebrow.

"No, but it would slow you down enough for us to get some things done."

"Whatever." Kili rolled his eyes.

Thorin picked up a pack and threw it at Kili, who just barely caught it in his arms. "Since you're in such good shape, you wont mind carrying your weight."

"Yes, Uncle." Kili slung the pack over his back as the company began their march.

 _This would be a_ long _trip._

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The caravan had been traveling for, almost, a full day. The sun was blistering down on them and everybody was weary from the walk.

"Hunter!" Seth ran up to his brother from behind, "We _have_ to take a break."

"No," Hunter replied bluntly, "We had three days to rest, we can keep moving."

"The people are getting weary. They _need_ to rest."

"They had rest!" Hunter turned to face Seth with an anger the younger had never seen, before, in his eyes, "I'm trying to do what's best for the caravan. You don't know anything about leading a caravan!"

Seth shook his head and looked at his brother in disgust, " You're not doing what's best for the caravan, you're doing what's best for you. I used to idolize you. I wanted... I wanted to _be_ you! You've changed. You're not the man I once knew. You're not my brother." Seth turned away from Hunter.

Hunter stared after Seth in disbelief. _Had he really been so selfish that his own brother would disown him?_ Seth was all he had left, and now he, too, was gone.

Hunter continued walking, blocking out everything around him. He had lost everyone that he ever loved, in some way or another. _How could he push Seth away the way he had?_

Hunter's thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain that suddenly shot through his shoulder. An unexpected force knocked him to the ground and he heard an eerily familiar word resound through the camp.

 _"ORCS!"_

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"Where are we headed?" inquired Kili to his uncle.

"Nowhere in particular. We have no place to begin." Thorin kept his eyes forward as the company continued marching.

"So we are wandering aimlessly?"

"What else can we do?"

Kili's eyes went downcast, "Right. I guess just look for clues?"

"We'll find him, lad." came the wise voice of Balin behind him, "Fili won't let a few orcs keep him away from his loved ones."

Kili smiled sadly at Balin, "I've never known him to break a promise."

"Nor do I believe you ever will know him to." Balin furrowed his brow in contemplation, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if he was on his way home right now."

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Hunter felt himself being shook lightly and heard his name being called.

"Master Hunter?"

He turned his eyes to see a young Levi standing over him, shaking him gently.

"You've been shot, master Hunter. We need to get you out of here."

Hunter pushed himself onto his elbows and looked around to see a protective circle formed around him. His people were loyal to him even after all he had put them through. "No."

Levi's face turned to a shade of confusion, "What?"

His eyes turned back to the young boy, "I'm not running like a coward. My duty is to my caravan. They need my help."

"But you've been shot!"

Hunter shook his head, "There's no time to treat it, leave it for now. I can still fight."

"If you say so, master Hunter, but let me help you." Levi held a hand out to Hunter.

He looked at the outstretched hand, "Your father wouldn't want you in the fight."

Levi smiled, "My father wouldn't wish me to fight beside anyone else. You're a brave man, sir, I hope some day I can be just like you."

Hunter took Levi's hand and they both rose to their feet, "You don't want to be like me, Levi. I've made too many mistakes. You're gonna be your own great man someday."

"Thank you, sir. It means a lot coming from you."

Hunter clapped Levi on the back, "What do you say we go fight some orcs?"

"It would be an honor, master Hunter."

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Seth cut down orcs left and right, there seemed no end to the ugly creatures that came from every side. He only hoped Essy had the mind to stay out of a fight like this.

"You!" came a rough gravely voice from behind him.

Seth turned around to see a lighter skinned orc holding a spiked mace in his hand.

"What do you want from us?"

The orc smiled, "My name is Noluk, and you took something from me. I've come to reclaim it."

 **I personally liked this chapter, let me know what you think! Also, if you'd like, submit some ideas for my OCs. I'm not entirely sure what's gonna happen there.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Here we go! This one is pretty action packed compared to the others. Enjoy!**

"I've come to reclaim it."

Seth was confused, "You must be mistaken, we've taken nothing from the orcs."

"You lie. I remember you. I've seen you before." the orc, Noluk, sneered, "You were with him."

"With who?" Seth questioned.

"With the dwarf. He escaped our grasp and _you_ took him in." Noluk growled, "Nobody insults Noluk and gets away so freely.Where is he?"

Seth shook his head, "Like I would tell you, even if I knew."

"I think you know where he is headed, and you _will_ tell me."

Noluk lunged at Seth and swung his mace at his head. Seth narrowly dodged the blow and kicked out at the orc, striking him in the stomach.

Noluk clutched his stomach and backed away, then, he looked up with a new fury in his eyes. The orc ran at Seth again and swung harder this time.

Seth took his sword and blocked the blows being directed at him. He was able to dodge blow after blow- and even managed a few to throw in a few blows of his own- until, that is, Noluk kicked him in the knee.

For a split second, Seth was distracted by the pain. That was all Noluk needed to gain the upper hand. The orc swung his mace, striking Seth in the back and knocking him to the ground. Then Noluk stepped on his back-aggravating the new wounds- and pulled out his knife. He grabbed Seth by the hair and pulled him onto knees, then, put the knife to Seth's throat. Seth thought he could hear Essy shouting his name, but it could have been his imagination.

Noluk bent to whisper in his ear, "Tell me where the dwarf was headed and I'll let you live."

Seth would not be responsible for the death of an innocent. He could not have that on his conscience, "Then you had better just kill me."

Noluk growled, "It would be my pleasure."

Seth could feel Noluk's grip tighten in his hair. He closed his eyes and prepared for death pull him away from his world and into another.

But it never came.

"STOP!"

Seth opened his eyes to see Hunter a few yards away with an arrow in his shoulder. _Please don't do anything stupid_.

"Don't kill him. Please." Hunter begged, "What do you want from us?"

"The dwarf you had here with you, where is he?" Noluk questioned.

"I.. I don't know." Hunter shook his head and Seth could feel Noluk's grip tightening on his hair again, "But I know where he is headed."

 _No. Don't tell them._

Seth could see Essy out of the corner of his eye. Of course she wouldn't miss the battle.

"Where?"

"I'll tell you, but you must promise to let my caravan go free." Hunter negotiated.

Noluk growled more before answering, "Deal."

Hunter nodded, "He was headed to the Blue Mountains. He lives in a small village up there."

Noluk nodded and shoved Seth to the ground. He grunted at the pain in his back. Seth could feel Essy pulling on his arm, encouraging him to get up. He complied for her sake, he didn't want her to worry for him.

Noluk's gruff voice broke through again, "Take these two." He gestured to Seth and Essy, "And him." He pointed to Hunter.

Hunter looked between Seth and Noluk in a panic, "You promised to let us go!"

"I promised to let your caravan go." Seth watched as Noluk walked over to his brother, "If I find you're not lying I will set you free, but for now, I need a guide."

"You can't do this!" Hunter shouted.

"I can do _whatever_ I want." Noluk grabbed arrow in Hunter's shoulder and, harshly, pulled it out.

Seth watched Hunter shout out in pain and grab for his shoulder as Levi stepped forward to help him. Hunter whispered something in Levi's ear and pushed him away. Levi turned and ran from the scene and, soon, Hunter, Seth and Essy were bound and led out of the caravan.

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Fili sat by the fire, watching the flames burn the woods within. It wasn't even a week ago when he and Kili sat together, enjoying the same warmth and treating themselves to the soup he had made.

Oh, how much had changed since then.

Fili wasn't the same person. Yes, he was able to find joy when the situation arose, but it wasn't the same joy he had once found. A part of him was lost and could never be found again, that's the part that saddened him the most.

He wouldn't see Kili again until he, too, entered into the halls of Aule. That day could be over two hundred years from now. Could Fili really wait two hundred years to see his baby brother again?

It wasn't fair. Kili should still be there now. He was too young to go the way he did. Durin's were either supposed to die in battle or surrounded by their loved ones in peace, not stabbed and left to die alone in the forest.

Fili wished he could have been with him in the end, been able to comfort him in his last moments. He couldn't imagine how scared Kili must have been. When most people die they are prepared, they have lived a full life and are ready to leave this world and enter into the next.

Kili had no idea that this journey would be his last. He never got to say a proper goodbye to the ones he loved. He couldn't imagine how worried his family must be, and rightfully so. Now it was up to Fili to make it back home and tell them what had happened. That's what he was not looking forward to.

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Nothing.

The company had been traveling almost two days already and they had found nothing to give them an idea on where Fili might be. Of course Kili didn't expect to get immediate results, but it was disheartening.

Every hour they spent searching for clues was another hour Fili could be in serious danger. They had to find him soon. Fili's life depended on it.

Kili's attention was caught by a ruckus in the distance.

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Hunter was exhausted. He felt that he could collapse at any given moment. They had not stopped their trek for more than ten minutes since they left the caravan over a day ago and it showed.

He could tell that Seth and Esmiel were just as tired as he was. Hunter was sorry for his brother, he couldn't imagine how he must feel with _his_ injuries. He himself had an arrow wound in his shoulder, but Seth was struck with a spiked mace in the back!

Hunter grimaced at the thought. He wanted so badly to go and inquire after his health, but he knew the orcs wouldn't let him- they had struck them for lesser things. Besides, Hunter didn't think Seth would appreciate talking like they were friends after he deliberately disowned him. He supposed he would just have to keep an eye on him for now.

"Hey, you." Noluk poked Hunter with the butt end of his mace.

"What do you want?" Hunter asked irritatedly, not bothering to look in Noluk's direction.

"You sure you know where we're going?"

"I'm sure. We've done work in the Blue Mountains before, we should be there in less than a day if we continue at our same pace." There was no emotion on Hunter's face as he spoke.

"You better be right." the orc smiled evily at him, "I'd hate to see what'd happen to all of you if you were to lead us wrong."

Hunter gulped. He was never usually one to bring harm to strangers, but for all their sakes he had to continue. Seth might not understand his actions, but Hunter would hate for him to discover them the hard way.

"Shut up. Everyone." Noluk ordered, "There's something up ahead."

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Fili walked. The tiredness in his legs wee more easily ignored knowing that home was so close.

He was so close to seeing his mother again, his uncle again. Fili had never felt so fulfilled, but so empty at the same time.

Fili's thoughts were interrupted when he heard rustling in the brush behind him. He turned about briskly, "Who's there? Show yourself!" he shouted into the night.

The rustling stopped for a moment but then Fili heard the rustling spread from that one place to all around him. He turned looked around himself, sword at the ready. He turned from side to side, not knowing what was surrounding him.

Suddenly, Fili felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and the sensation of falling alarmed him. He hit the ground with a _thud_ but was barely aware of it.

As he lay on the ground he thought he heard shouting and the clanging of weapons.

Just before he lost consciousness Fili saw the face of his little brother come into view.

"It'll be alright, Fili. I promise." Then, all went black.

 **Ooooooo! Suspense! I know it all went pretty fast but I hope you liked it! Please leave a review! Love you guys!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.** **I left you guys with a cliffhanger last time. Here you go! Hope you are satisfied!**

Kili was first to break through the woods and to where to commotion was coming from. He broke through just in time to see his brother drop to the ground with Noluk behind him, holding a rock. "Fili!"

Noluk dropped the rock he was holding in his hand and, pulled out a spiked mace. "How is this possible? I killed you!" Noluk growled in anger.

"Maybe next time, you should make sure I'm dead before you take my brother away." Kili said, drawing his sword.

Noluk sneered, "Oh, I fully intend to. Neither of you will ever get the best of me again!"

"You can try all you like, but Durin folk are not so easily killed."

As Kili said the words, the rest of the company emerged from the trees behind him and Thorin stepped forward beside Kili. "You will pay for what you put my nephews through. I will see to it that you die this very night."

Noluk looked around at the company with a growing fury before his eyes turned between Kili and Thorin, "Durin folk? I should have guessed. Only you could be so determined. But. That is about to change."

Then, Noluk's own army emerged from the woods and Kili noticed three more captives with them, one man with dark hair, one with light hair and one woman with long, light hair. They were being kept to side, away from both parties. Poor souls caught up in the mess. He then looked back down to Fili, whose eyes were still open, but didn't seem to be entirely aware.

Kili's attention was snapped back to the present when the orcs let out a war cry and started charging forward.The dwarves answered with their own cry and soon dwarf and orc weapons clashed.

Kili's first instinct was to try and make it to Fili, the only problem was Noluk standing in the way. He supposed he would have to have the pleasure of killing the horrid creature, first.

Noluk stepped closer to Kili with mace in hand. Kili clutched his sword tighter. His body still hurt from his previous injuries and he doubted his family would approve of his choice to fight so soon, but Fili needed him.

He lifted his sword to block the first swing Noluk directed at him. Kili pushed the mace away and sliced at the orc, catching him in the leg. Noluk cried out in pain and swung again, this time at Kili's head. He barely had time to duck, narrowly avoiding decapitation, before striking Noluk again, this time in the arm.

Noluk was getting angry now. The orc blocked Kili's next attempt and slammed full body into him, knocking both of them to the ground. Kili shouted at the pain flaring up in his ribs.

He didn't let it distract him for too long before he rose to his feet again, hunching over, with one hand on on his aching ribs. Kili blocked the next blow delivered, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the one after it.

The mace hit Kili in the right arm, sending him to the ground, screaming in agony. Noluk appeared, standing over him. The orc dropped his mace and pulled out a knife from his belt. Kili watched him bend down, closer to his level and heard him speak quietly in his ear.

"There will be no walking away this time."

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Hunter watched as the battle ensued. He wished he could have heard what was said to spark the battle, but he would have to make due. Hunter looked over to the orc guarding them, he walked quietly over to him before pouncing onto his back.

The unsuspecting orc fell to the ground and his sword flew from his hand. Hunter reached for the sword and grasped it in his bound hands. Before the orc had a chance to struggle Hunter plunged the sword into its back.

When he was satisfied the orc was dead, Hunter pulled the sword out and brought it over to Seth and Essy. He took the sword and cut the rope around Seth's hands, then he gave the sword to Seth to do the same.

Once all their bonds were cut they collected various weapons from dead orcs and joined the battle.

Hunter cut down orc by orc before a cry caught his attention. He looked to where the cry came from to see the young, dark haired dwarf lying on the ground with Noluk standing over him. He rose to his feet, but only to be knocked down again.

"NO!" cried another voice.

Hunter looked over and saw another dark haired dwarf. This one struggling to get to the other. He wouldn't make it in time. There was no way.

Hunter sprang into action. He lifted his stolen sword and ran to the dwarf's aid.

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Kili tried to get to his feet again to fight, but Noluk's boot on his chest prevented him from rising any further. The familiarity of the situation almost made Kili laugh. He had survived this fate once, he would not survive it again. Not this time.

Kili prepared for the finishing blow, but before it could come Noluk shouted out and fell to the ground, and the dark haired man was left standing over him. He was just about to thank the man when he, too, fell to the ground.

It took Kili a moment to regain his footing, and when he did he found that Noluk and the dark haired man were having a fight of their own. They wrestled about on the ground before Noluk pulled out a knife and plunged in into the man's shoulder.

The man cried out and rolled on the ground in pain as Noluk stood over him again, preparing to finish him off. Kili took this as his turn to intercede and attacked the orc from behind, knocking him to the ground. He jumped onto Noluk and began beating him, using his uninjured arm.

When he was sure Noluk was beaten thoroughly, Kili picked his sword up off the ground and plunged it into Noluk's chest, pushing it as deeply in as he could. When the sword was embedded to the hilt in the orc's chest Kili bent down to whisper in his ear.

"There will be no walking away this time."

Noluk coughed and gagged for a time before he breathed his last. When the orcs realized their leader was dead, they panicked and scattered to the woods, leaving the dwarves and the men alone.

Kili crawled over to Fili, who still lay on the ground where he fell, "Fee? Come on, wake up."

Fili didn't stir. He continued to lie still as if he were dead.

"Please, Fili. Please wake up." Kili pleaded. He felt the presence of Thorin appear behind him, but he dare not look up.

Thorin bent down to next to Kili, "He still breaths, Kili. Your brother is alive." Kili didn't answer, "You need to get yourself looked at. That arm looks pretty nasty."

Kili shook his head, "No... not until I know Fili is safe, at home."

"You're not making any sense, Kili." Thorin placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't leave his side!" Kili shouted, "Not untill he's safe!"

Thorin wrapped his arms around his nephew, attempting to calm him, but Kili just thrashed about trying to free himself from Thorin's grasp.

"Get off! You're not taking me from him!" Kili yelled.

"No one is taking you from him. Just relax Kili." Thorin comforted.

Kili started to relax a bit, his breathing slowing and heart rate returning to normal. Thorin felt him settle, but before long Kili's whole form went limp as unconsciousness took him.

"Oin!" Thorin shouted, and Oin ran from a dark brown haired man, who seemed hurt as well, and over to where Thorin sat with his nephews, "What's wrong with them?"

Oin bent down to inspect the lads more closely, first seeing to Fili, "Fili has a nasty head injury. Most likely a concussion. Not too serious as long as he wakes before long." Oin moved to inspect Kili, "Kili has a broken arm, not to mention his ribs have been aggravated again. He likely passed out from the pain. He will be fine once he wakes."

"Thank you, Oin. You've done my family a great service, I don't know how I'll every repay you."

"Ah. Don't mention it. Just knowing these two lads will be alright is enough payment for me." Oin patted Thorin on the shoulder before walking off.

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Once both of Thorin's nephews were placed on Oin's portable stretchers and everyone was prepared to leave, Thorin figured it was a good idea to talk to the humans. He approached the three figures who sat away from his company.

"I am deeply sorry you had to be caught up in this." Thorin apologized.

The blond spoke first, "It's not your fault. No real harm came to us and we are glad you are reunited with your friend. We should have known taking in a dwarf would get us no good." the man joked.

"I didn't realize you had harbored him. Please, if there's anything I can do, tell me. I do not have much, but my nephew's life is worth everything to me. Please come with us back to my home. We can get you proper medical attention there." Thorin offered.

"Thank you." said the darker haired man, "We would like that very much. My name is Hunter, this is my brother Seth and his intended, Esmiel. I lead a caravan that sits about a day away from this spot."

Thorin bowed, "Thorin Oakensheild, at your service. I would be happy to send one of my company to invite your caravan to Erid Luin. You may be reunited there."

"Oakensheild?" Hunter looked surprised, as did the others, "We had no clue. You are a king, are you not?"

"I am exiled. True, I am heir to a lost kingdom, but there are few who still recognize me as so. I am indebted to you for returning my heir to me."

"Heir? We were just doing the right thing. We were not in it for any reward." Seth said, "We will take your offer, but we don't want anything more. Thank you for setting us free."

Thorin smiled, "It's the least I could do."

Finally, they were all headed home.

 **I'm thinking one more chapter, _maybe_ two, but don't get your hopes up. Home is _so_ close! You know I never expected to get to seventeen chapters. I thought maybe five or six, but never seventeen. I think I might need some reviews.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **I'm a bit disappointed at you guys. I only got _one_ review on my last chapter. Luckily I got _one_ review on my last chapter, so I can continue to chapter 18. We're almost done now. **

_Fili walked. Where to he did not know. Just as long as he was away. Away from the hurt. Away from the heartache. Away from the sorrow. Away from his memories. Away from himself._

 _He walked away from all his troubles. Fili wished it could stay this way, with the wind blowing in his hair, reminding him of his freedom. He could stay here forever. Kili would have._

 _Kili would have loved this. He would have loved to smell the fresh sent of pine in the air. Feel the cool breeze blow over him. Taste the wild black raspberries growing in the brush. Hear the birds singing in the early morning._

 _He would have loved every bit of it, because this is where Fili's brother belonged. And this is where Fili felt close to him. This is where Kili's spirit dwelled_.

 _As he walked, Fili could hear the leaves break beneath his boots. A slight '_ crackle _' with every step he took. It was a comforting sound to his ears. It took him back to the days when he and Kili would play in the forest with their wooden swords._

 _Fili would give anything to go back to those days. Go back to the days when he could fight off anything that threatened his baby brother. Those days were gone, now._

 _If he could get that time back he would use every bit of it to spend more time with Kili. Had Fili known his brother would be gone so soon, he would never have left his side. He would spend the rest of their time together doing everything Kili loved to do. There would never be a wasted moment._

 _Fili wiped a tear from his eye as he continued to walk. He wished he didn't have to go back. He wished he didn't have to face his problems. But what were problems for?_

 _He would go back. Fili couldn't let these problems go unfaced forever. He made a promise to Kili. He was going to get back to his mum. It was selfish for him to think of leaving, now. It was unfair to his family. What family he had left, anyways._

 _Fili stopped his walking and was alarmed when the_ 'crackle' _didn't stop when his steps did. Instead it continued, and, even more alarming, Fili heard_ more _crackling._

 _He looked, warily, around himself. The crackling grew closer and closer and Fili's heart pumped faster and faster. Suddenly, the crackling stopped, and, for a moment, so did his heart._

 _Then, much to Fili's dismay, Noluk stepped forward from the woods with an orc pack on his tail._

 _"No." Fili said, quietly._

 _Noluk smiled, at him, "It's funny to think. You used to be scared of nothing... but now.. all I have to do is show my face and you quiver like a poor, lost child." Noluk cocked his head to the side in a mocking pity, "But that's what you are, isn't it? A poor, lost child. So horribly alone, because you failed to protect those closest to you."_

 _"You can't hurt me more than you already have! You've already taken what I loved most. You can't hurt me anymore!" Fili shouted at the orc who had taken so much from him._

 _"That's precisely what I want. You are forever broken... and you can never be fixed." Noluk sneered, "It's the never ending torture."_

 _Fili shouted out in frustration. He covered his ears and curled into a ball, but the words Noluk said echoed in his mind._

' _You can never be fixed. It's the never ending torture.'_

Fili jolted awake, his breathing heavy and body sore. As he focused more on the world around him, he could hear his name being said, as if someone was trying to get his attention.

"Fili." The voice said quietly. He knew it sounded familiar.

He looked to his right a bit more and stopped. He groaned in sorrow at the face of his little brother smiling, gently, at him.

No. Not his little brother.

 _This_ was whatever entity that had decided to torment him. _This_ was Noluk's never ending torture.

"Please.. Mahal, no." Fili said quietly.

"What are you saying?" said the ghost of his brother.

Fili couldn't bear to look at him, "Please, stop tormenting me."

"You're not making any sense, Fee."

Fili's eyes filled with tears, "Just... leave me alone. You aren't my brother. I don't have a brother."

This seemed to hurt the ghost. He downcast his eyes and didn't reply. Fili didn't think you could hurt the feelings of a ghost. He didn't have time to dwell on this for too long, however, before Fili heard a door open. This was the first time he realized where he was.

This was his bedroom. The place place where he could feel the most comfort. The place he could feel _truly_ safe. The place that, right this moment, his mum was coming to see him.

"Fili! You're awake!" Dis jumped forward and wrapped her arms around him, "I was beginning to worry."

Fili smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, mum. I'm so, so sorry."

Dis pulled out of the hug and stood back with a confused look on her face, "What in all of Middle Earth are you so sorry for?"

Fili looked back to Kili's ghost and then to his mother, with more tears in his eyes, "I... I couldn't stop them."

His mother looked even more confused now, "You've got no reason to be sorry. I don't know what this is all about."

"It's my fault, Mum. It's all my fault." Fili buried his face in his hands.

"What's your fault? You've done nothing wrong, that I can see."

Fili sniffled before continuing, "He's gone... He's dead and it's my fault." Fili didn't dare look up, "Kili's gone."

Fili felt his mother's hand on his shoulder and he looked into her sorrowful eyes, "You silly little boy." she smiled as she wiped the tears from his face, "He's right beside you."

His head jolted to the other side to the bed where Kili's ghost still sat, "Kili?"

Kili looked up and smiled at him. He smiled the brightest, most cheerful and loving smile that only Kili could give, "I'm not dead, Fee."

Fili faltered. He sat up in his bed as more tears fell from his eyes. Happy tears, "Oh, Kee! You have no idea how much I've wanted this! How much I've dreamed of this!" Fili jumped out of his bed and smothered Kili in a hug, joyful sobs wracking his body.

Kili patted his back in a desperate way, forcing Fili to pull away, "More gentle next time." Kili said gesturing to his arm, and, for the first time, Fili noticed his brother's arm in a sling.

"What happened?" Fili asked in concern.

"Oh this? I got this gem from saving your sorry hide." Kili joked.

 _Oh,_ _how Fili had missed him._

About this time Dis had decided to give her sons some privacy.

Fili looked back to his baby brother, "Noluk? Is he-"

"Dead?" Kili finished, "Yes, I killed him with my own sword. He'll never hurt anyone again."

Fili breathed a sigh of relief. He felt as if he could die of joy. Everything was right in the world. Everything was as it should be.

"You should be resting, Fili. You're still injured, you forget." Kili scolded.

"But how can I? I've got so much to think about." Fili countered.

Kili seemed to consider this a moment, "You know," Kili began, "when I was but a young, little dwarf, I would often have trouble falling asleep for fear of something unexpected happening. When this would happen, my brother would sit with me while I fell asleep. He always was a sweet one." Kili teased.

"Oh sure. You're just trying to make me feel better." Fili rolled his eyes.

"Maybe." Kili said, joining Fili on his bed, "I always _was_ fond of him. We always were close."

Fili leaned in closer to Kili. He wanted to enjoy the closeness for as long as possible, for there is no telling when it may be stripped away.

Kili continued talking to him. Right now, Kili's voice was all Fili wanted to hear. And to think he thought he would never hear that voice again. Oh, how glad he was that he was wrong.

The next words Kili said were especially comforting to Fili, "Nothing could ever seem to keep us apart."

Fili closed his eyes. He wanted things to stay this way forever. Everything was as it should be. He'd been given a second chance and he would _not_ waste it. He would never take his little brother for granted again.

Fili breathed in Kili's scent. He'd missed it _so_ much. This is how it should be.

Kili was alive, and that's all that mattered.

And with happy thoughts in mind, Fili was able to sleep, peacefully.

 **Aww! I really liked this whole chapter. It's not all that long, but it's really sweet and very heartwarming. I really hope you guys give me more than one review this time. NOTE: This is not the last chapter. There is still more to come.**


	19. NOTE:

**Don't worry! I'm not canceling the story or anything. I just wanted you all to know that I'm not going to be able to update for a week.**

 **I'm going to be gone for a while and won't be able to write for as long as I'm gone.** **It breaks my my heart to be gone so long.**

 **Beside the point, I want to thank all of you for how great you've been. You all have been _so_ encouraging and _so_ kind in your comments. If you weren't writing to me this story would have been abandoned _long_ ago.**

 **You may think that a simple review on my story may mean nothing and is just lost in the sea of other reviews, but you have no idea how much my heart lights up when I find a review on my story. If you haven't written to me yet, I encourage you to do so.**

 **Because of all of you, this story has made it to 18 chapters and is still running. I don't know what I'd do without you all.**

 **Thank you all, _so_ much!** **Keep finding inspiration!**

 **-TheRavenAndBear**


	20. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **I'm baaaaack! Are you guys stoked or what? Sorry, kinda cheesy. Whatever, tough, am I right? Who doesn't like a little cheese? Okay, I'll stop with the painful comments. Check out my new chapter! Finally getting some place. Also! If I were to make a sequel, what should it be about? Let me know in the reviews.**

Seth sat with his against the wall. They had been at the village healer's home since they arrived there yesterday.

His own injuries had been treated easily with some bandages. Hunter had taken a bit longer because of his open wounds, but, luckily, Essy got out unscathed except for various cuts and bruises. Now they were waiting for Thorin to come and make arrangements with them.

Who knew when he would come? He was apparently still waiting for Fili to awaken.

Seth remembered the last time he had seen the young dwarf. He and another- a darker haired dwarf were apparently injured in the battle, for they were loaded onto stretchers for the trip home.

The dwarf healer had tended to both of the dwarves' wounds and fixed them up as best he could. Seth never heard the diagnosis, though. He had no idea how they were today.

Fili looked fairly uninjured except for a nasty head injury. The other dwarf had cuts and bruises all over him, but most of those were already there before the battle. Seth wondered why, but could come to no clear conclusion. He noticed that the dwarf healer had afterwards put the dark haired dwarf's arm in a cast. He must have broken it during his battle with Noluk.

Seth didn't think he had ever seen a two braver acts than what Hunter and the young dwarf had pulled off. The dark haired dwarf fought with all of his strength to protect Fili. When he was knocked down he would fight his way back to his feet. He must be close to Fili. Close enough to risk his life trying to defend him.

The dark haired dwarf seemed to be a fine warrior but he was bested, still, by Noluk. He would have died if it wasn't for Hunter. Hunter gave no hesitation in his actions to save him. The dwarf was lying on the ground, ready to die, and Hunter sprang in and saved him.

Seth didn't get to see the whole battle, but he saw enough to know that his brother was back. He wasn't sorry for the words he said to Hunter, he deserved them. Given the chance redo it all, he wouldn't. Hunter needed to hear it from someone, and, if he wouldn't listen to anybody else, it would have to come from him.

True, he may have been a little harsh in his wording, but Hunter was a tough person to reach. I should probably apologize. Thought Seth. There was a rift between them that may never be fixed, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

Seth looked over to where his brother sat on the spare cot. Essy had gone to look around the village with Oin, the dwarf healer, so now was a better time than any to try to reconcile.

Seth cleared his throat and Hunter looked in his direction.

When Seth didn't speak immediately Hunter did, "Is there something you wanted to say?"

Seth cast his eyes down, "I wanted to apologize for being so harsh the other day."

Hunter rolled his eyes, "Nonsense. I was being a real jerk. We both know I deserved those words you said. I've been a terrible big brother, I've neglected you, and I cared too much about being as good a leader as Da that I forgot to be as good a sibling as Martha. I'm so sorry, Seth."

Seth smiled at his big brother, "Hunter, you are the best leader our caravan has ever known. You may not be like Da, but you are still as good a leader in your own ways. You may have been a bit of a jerk for a while, but you've been through a lot. Even through all that has been thrown upon you, you've never given up hope of a better life. You're a good person and a strong warrior. You act on what what you believe to be right and best for your people. True, stealing Mithril was probably not the best idea, but it saved our lives. We were on the brink of starvation and you found a way to save us all." Hunter scratched the back of his head, "I know... that I told you, you weren't my brother, but, to be honest, I wouldn't rather have any other brother as my own."

Hunter smiled a true, sincere smile for the first time since the day Martha died. Seth walked over to him and pulled him into a tight embrace. The two remained that way for long moments before they pulled away and held each other at arms length.

"I don't deserve you, Seth." Hunter shook his head.

"I'm the only one who could put up with you. You're lucky to have me. Anybody else would have left you _long_ ago."

Hunter could only roll his eyes. Oh, how much he had missed in his years of darkness. He had spent all that time running a straight line in the dark, when all he had to do was turn around to see the light.

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Thorin looked up as Dis came down the stairs. He was frightened at first, until he saw the smile on her face.

"What?" Thorin asked, his expression unchanged.

Dis' face lit up even more when she saw him, "Fili's awake. Everything is going to be okay. I know it will be."

"How can you be so sure?" Thorin asked, unwilling to accept false hope.

Dis lifted her eyes in contemplation, "It's like when Kili was born." she started, "He was so frail and we were so scared that we would lose him. He wouldn't open his eyes for anyone- that is, until Fili got to him. Kili opened his eyes for Fili. He opened for his brother, only." Dis started to tear up and her voice became choked as she continued, "I knew he would be alright. I could _feel_ it."

Thorin walked over to his sister and wiped the tears from his eyes, "Why do you cry, sister?"

Dis took a big, shaking, breath in and continued, "When Fili first woke, he was defeated. He wasn't the same person... Thorin.. he thought Kili was dead. Kili was sitting right next to him and Fili wouldn't except him. I can't imagine the emotional struggle he's had to go through this whole time, thinking his little brother dead. It's a miracle he's still with us." Dis smiled through the tears on her face, "When he finally realized Kili was alive- well, I don't think I've ever seen him happier in his life. Fili has been through too much to give up now, especially since he knows Kili is there, waiting for him to recover."

Thorin nodded, "You are right. Fili is strong- both the lads are, like their mother."

Dis smirked at her brother, "Like their parents."

"Of course. That's what I meant." Thorin rubbed the back of his neck.

"What are you going to do for those humans who helped my sons?" questioned Dis.

"I was thinking we could have Oin take care of them till their caravan arrived. Then we would restock them and send them on their way." Thorin reasoned.

"Nonsense!" she punched his arm, "We have to invite them to dinner. They saved my sons' lives, they deserve more than the company of an old hermit."

"Oin is a fine warrior, healer and friend. He'd make fine company."

"You know as well as I that he's half deaf and can't make it two words into a sentence without falling asleep." Dis crossed her arms over her chest. She knew as well as Thorin did, that she has won the argument.

"Fine." Thorin said flatly, "I just, never liked the company of humans. Their proud, stuck up and think everyone should answer to _their_ commands."

Dis gave a sly smile, "Well, it sounds like you guys have a lot in common. I think you'll get along just fine."

Dis teasingly patted Thorin on the cheek, like he was dwarfling again, and walked back over to her brewing pot, leaving a speechless Thorin standing where she left him.

 **A bit of a shorter chapter, but I'm still getting back into my writing groove. Still more chapters to come. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Mithril weapons situation. I have some ideas, but none that would fit the story line well.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Here we are! Sorry it's late, the Wi-Fi had been down for the past couple days. Anywho, I hope you like it!**

"I'm serious, mum. I feel great. I can manage myself just fine." Fili said, trying to brush off his mother's protective nature.

"I don't like it. You've only just woken up yesterday! You should stay in bed another day." Dis scolded.

Fili stood at the end of the bed, and crossed his arms over his chest, "If I stay in bed any longer, I'll die of boredom. Kili's out of bed, and I'm in better shape than he is."

"Don't bring me into this. I already had this conversation." Kili said from his spot on Fili's bed.

"What do you plan on doing once you get out?" Dis cocked an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, looking back to Fili.

"I haven't been home in days! I'd like to take a look around the village and see some familiar faces. Uncle said that there were three humans they brought back with me."

"Yes, two men and a woman. Thorin said that they claimed to shelter you before they were captured by the orcs."

Fili nodded, "I need to apologize for getting them into this mess. They didn't deserve what bringing orcs to their caravan brought them." Fili shook his head in shame, "I want Kili to come with me. They need to meet the 'dead dwarf' I've told them so much about." Fili smirked as he thought about the looks on their faces once they met his brother.

"Fine." Fili's mother conceded, "But Dwalin will be your escort. You two won't be going anywhere alone for a while." Dis paused a moment before adding more. "If you're gonna go, ask them over for supper. I want to treat the people who saved my boys' lives."

"Fine, mum. We have an agreement, then?" Fili asked.

Dis took a deep breath in before answering, "Aye... we have an agreement."

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The walk to the healer's house was fairly quiet. Fili and Kili would talk every now and then, but Dwalin's presence prevented then from talking about whatever they wanted. He was unnerving and intimidating.The warrior was focused on his job, and wouldn't say more than one or two words at a time. He looked warily around him and was on constant alert.

The trip to the house had taken all of twenty minutes, but it felt more like an hour to the brothers. Once they made it to the door Fili moved to knock. When nobody answered he knocked a second time. This time the door was opened and Oin's face appeared in the doorway.

"Ah, laddies. It's good to see you on yer feet again. You both gave us quite a scare. If it were up to me, you'd both, still, be in bed. I hope you weren't waiting too long. My hearing is not what it once was." Oin said gesturing to his ears as he spoke.

"Not too long, mister Oin. We just stopped by to see some of your patients." Kili said.

"Ah. The humans I'm guessing? The men aren't the most talkative fellows, but the young lady is quite the conservationist."

"Yes, those are the ones." Fili nodded.

"Well, come right on in." Oin moved so they could enter the house.

Dwalin crossed his arms over his chest, "I'll stand guard here. I wouldn't want to intervene."

"No, we don't play cards here." Oin said, "And I have no clue what machine you're talking about."

Fili rolled his eyes. He had to admit that he'd missed Oin's answers to misheard statements. His attention was brought back when they entered a healing room. He immediately recognized the three in the room as the people who took him into their caravan and treated his wounds.

"Fili!" exclaimed Esmiel, "You look great!"

"Thank you. I feel better than I have in days. I suppose I have you to thank for that." Fili said, looking to Hunter, on the cot.

"It was nothing, really. I suppose I just realized what I should have seen all along. My life is _not_ the only one that matters. I was so focused on my own selfish desires, that I missed the big picture. If I had only realized it sooner, much would have been different." Hunter hung his head.

"You're a good man, Hunter." said Fili, "And I'm proud to call you my friend."

Hunter smiled, "I'm just glad you and your friend are still alive. You two are close, are you not?"

Fili's face brightened up and he placed his hand on Kili's shoulder, minding his injured arm, "My closest friend and companion. I could not be happier to have received the opportunity to introduce to you, Kili, my little brother."

Kili just smiled, lowered his head and shook it in embarrassment, "Stop it."

The others just sat with confusion on their faces, before Seth spoke up, "Kili? The dead brother?"

Kili looked over to where Seth stood, "Not so dead, now, am I?... It's a long story."

Seth shook his head in amazement and Hunter took his turn to speak, "Well, we are proud to have the honor of meeting the dwarf we've heard so much about. Your brother speaks quite highly of you."

"Well, people always speak more highly of the dead." Kili smirked.

"Shut up." Fili elbowed gently, but still hard enough to bring Kili pain.

"Ouch! Careful, Fee. I still have an injured body." Kili scolded.

"Sorry... I forgot. I'll be more careful." Fili put his hands up in defence.

"Yeah right. You're not exactly the most gentle dwarf I've ever known."

"Like you have any room to speak." Fili laughed.

"It was _one_ time! Do _not_ bring that up in mixed company."

"Alright, alright. Fine." Fili took time to bring his laughter down before turning back to Hunter, "Anyways, our mother insisted you come to dinner tonight. I would highly suggest you accept. She'll find a way to get you to come, somehow. I think it's best to give in early."

Hunter laughed, "We would be delighted to join your family for dinner. I must meet the dwarrowdam who raised such dwarves as you two. She must be quite the lady."

"Aye, that she is." Fili nodded before his face turned serious again, "Hunter, I'd like to speak with you on a private matter, if that's okay."

Hunter nodded, "If you insist. We can go into the back room." He said, rising from his bed.

"That's fine." Fili said following Hunter into the room.

When the door was shut Fili began, "I... I know about what you deal. About what you're selling." Fili watched Hunter's face turn to concern, "It's a dangerous operation you're running."

Hunter nodded, "I got hold of a Mithril sword _years_ ago. When I carried it in public once, some men saw it and offered a _lot_ of money for it, more than I had ever owned before. It started out as something we'd only do once in a while. Something we'd do when we were desperate... but then, we took note of how much money it brought us, and... I guess I got greedy. I should have stopped, but I... I just couldn't. You _can't_ give us away. _Please."_

"We are no friends of the elves- quite the opposite, really- but you're my friend, and I know the risks of what you're doing."

"We've gotten too far in to turn back. If we gave up now, it would be a death sentence. We don't have enough to support us without the Mithril." Hunter rubbed the back of his neck.

"My family works in the forges. The dwarves here make mighty weapons worthy of battle. Take up trading with us and we can help you get back on track... Just... no more stealing from the elves. They can be rather merciless." Fili said.

"I will consider your offer. It would take a load off my mind to know my caravan was involved in an honorable trade."

"Great. I'll see you tonight then?" Fili asked.

"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Hunter assured.

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The three sat in silence for some time before Hunter broke it.

"I would give anything, you know." He said.

Seth looked over at him, "What?"

Hunter met his brother's eyes before continuing, "To be given the chance Fili was. He thought for sure that his brother was dead. He mourned. He was in despair. When he got home, he found his brother waiting for him with a big smile on his face. I would do anything to have been given that."

"It's _not_ fair, Hunter." Seth said, "That Martha was taken so suddenly, but what, really, is fair? The world works in mysterious ways. We may not understand it, but we're not meant to. We take what we're given, and we use it to help others escape the same pain _we_ had to go through."

"But, why did it have to be Martha?" Hunter asked.

Seth paused before he continued, "Death doesn't distinguish between the good people and the bad. It takes and it takes and it never gives. We don't get to choose when death collects, but we _do_ get to choose the time we spend with the people we live. If you spend your life separating yourself from others so your heart can't be broken again, you miss out on chances to get it fixed."

Hunter chuckled, "You know, Seth, You have wisdom beyond your years. I have no clue what I'd do without you."

"Don't try and think of your life without me. Try living in the moment, I think you'll find it's much more fulfilling."

 **That's chapter 20! I still plan on making maybe one or two more. Don't forget to suggest ideas for a sequel!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line. Everything else is credited to J.R.R Tolkien and Peter Jackson.**

 **Where are all my reviews? Only two? You guys are slacking. I still haven't gotten any ideas for a sequel yet. Let me know what you think.** **I've decided to make this the last chapter. I want to make a sequel, but I don't know what to make it about.** **I hope to get plenty of reviews for this last chapter.**

"Ahh, It's the lads up on their feet again!" Came the boisteous, hearty voice of Bofur as he stepped out of his toy shop.

Both Fili and Kili smiled at seeing their favorite toymaker again. Dwalin kept quiet and stood to the side, keeping an eye out for trouble.

"Mister Bofur." said Kili when Bofur wrapped him in an, oddly gentle hug, minding his broken and tender ribs, "Seeing _your_ smiling face almost makes it seem like nothing ever happened."

"Ah, I can have that effect on people, of course it's usually because of the ale." Bofur winked before turning to Fili, "I see we've made a full recovery, then?"

Fili smiled, " _I_ feel that way, but mum or Oin would tell you differently."

"Perhaps you should listen to their cautions. You know, parents and healers know a thing or two about physical well-being." Bofur warned.

"Ah, I feel better than I have all week!"

Kili smirked at his brother, "That's not saying much considering where we've _been_ this week."

"Oh, shut up." Fili rolled his eyes, "I couldn't wait any longer to see all my friends around the village."

Bofur laughed, "And I must say we're glad to see you two as well. To be honest, when I found Kili in the woods a few days back, I wasn't sure we'd ever see that smile again."

"Neither was I... but Kili never ceases to surprise even the best of us. Always another trick up his sleeve." Fili nudged his brother, "He just likes the attention."

"Like you're one to talk!" Kili defended, "You were missing longer than I was!"

"Well at least _I_ don't make a habit of it." Fili teased.

Kili just rolled his eyes. He had to admit that he had no good comeback for that. He often liked to wander and get away from the house. There had been many times where he had scared mum to death with how long he'd been gone.

"Well lads, how'd you enjoy the whistles your uncle had me make for you?" Bofur asked.

Fili was first to reply, "They are a brilliant invention. I only wish we could have used them more. And for their intended purpose, at that."

"Ah, well you'll have plenty of chances to get to use them again."

"Well," Kili began, "that depends on if mum lets us hunt again. She barely let us out of the house today, I doubt she'll let us leave the village for months, and we're certainly not going to be hunting alone again."

"Probably for the best, lads. The old dwarves of Erid Luin are very fond of you two. It would break the hearts of many around here if anything happened to you. Try to keep out of trouble for a while, won't you?"

Kili chuckled, "We'll try, but no promises."

Bofur smiled back, "That's all I'm asking."

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"I know, I know. I just never liked humans." Thorin grumbled.

"I don't care if you 'never liked humans'. These ones saved your nephews' lives!" Dis reasoned, "They deserve your hospitality _and_ your gratitude."

"And they can have it. It just... won't be easy giving it."

"They are going to be our guests and you'll treat them the way you would treat a dwarf guest."

Thorin paused before answering, "Fine... I will try my best. Now where did the lads go?"

"They wanted to get out of the house for a bit. They are staying in the village. At least they'd better. I sent Dwalin as a 'body guard'. He's mostly there to keep them out of trouble."

Thorin snickered, "They know leaving the village would bring _your_ wrath down upon them. They'll stay in the village, they know better."

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Six sat the table, three humans and three dwarves. They sat in silence as Dis served the food. In silence until Seth broke it, "So.. you are the fine dwarrowdam who mothered these two fine dwarves."

Dis chuckled, "And you are the fine men and woman who saved my sons' lives."

"Please, it was nothing really. Hunter is the one who saved Kili _and_ took Fili into the caravan. He's the one you should be thanking."

"It was nothing." Hunter humbled himself, "I just... wanted to right my wrongs. Wanted to change who I was. I wanted do the right thing for once, even when it didn't benefit me."

"That is a bold choice." Thorin chimed in, " _And_ one I can honor. I can't thank you enough for saving my nephews' lives. They are like sons to me." Thorin smiled gently at both Fili and Kili, who smiled back.

"Your nephews have shown us that dwarves are different than their common stereotype suggests. We are proud to have gotten to know them." Hunter said.

"And us, you." replied Fili.

After a long silence, Thorin decided to break it, "We hope we can restock your caravan in thanks. The Blue Mountains have been through a famine, but food is starting to show up again and we may have enough to get you started."

"I thank you," Hunter replied, "but we would not want to deprive you. We will take only what we need, nothing more." Hunter paused before continuing, "Fili suggested an idea to me. He suggested that we begin trade with you. I hear that you are weapons smiths. It would benefit both of our families if we entered into a partnership _and_ we would keep in contact."

Thorin contemplated this for a few moments before giving an answer, "That's not a bad idea, though I must say I do not know much about merchant trade."

Hunter smiled, "Neither did I when I first started. It was thrown upon me, but I can teach you. Will you trust me enough?"

Thorin stroked his beard while he thought, "I don't understand your intentions... and I don't completely trust you... but I think I can learn to."

Thorin reached his hand across the table and Hunter reached out to take it. They shook hands and solidified the deal. Hunter's caravan was on its way back to glory.

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 _"You don't have to worry, Kee. I'll be right here to catch you."_

 _"Are you sure?" a young Kili asked with fear in his eyes, "I don't want to get hurt."_

 _Fili smirked at his little brother's unnecessary fear, "I promise. Have I ever broken any promise I've made?"_

 _Kili thought on that for a little bit before answering, "No." Came his little, timid voice, "But how can you be so sure you won't drop me?"_

 _Fili looked up to Kili who sat a ways up, stuck in a tree, "Because, Kee, I love you and I could never let you get hurt you as long as I'm here to stop it."_

 _Kili smiled. He flashed that bright little smile that could change Fili's attitude in a heartbeat. The smile that he would work every day to get Kili to make for him._

 _Kili smiled and threw himself off the tree branch he was seated on and into Fili's arms._

 _"See? I told you I'd catch you." Fili smiled and ruffled Kili's dark hair._

 _"I'm sorry I didn't trust you. You're always when I need you."_

 _"I'll always be here to catch you, Kee. I promise."_

 _A vision flashed suddenly before Fili's eyes_

 _NO!" Fili shouted as he scrambled to reach his brother._

 _Kili gasped and looked down. Noluk released the knife and let Kili fall back to where Fili was to catch him._

 _"Kili... Kili! Look at me." Fili's voice broke as he pulled Kili close to him._

 _Kili looked up and focused his eyes on Fili. "Fee... it.. it's okay."_

 _Fili looked back into the eyes of young Kili, smiling in his arms._

 _Another vision._

 _Fili was suddenly grabbed from behind by two sets of hands._

 _"Only take the one. The dark haired dwarf is as good as dead." Noluk ordered._

 _"NO! KILI!"_

Fili woke suddenly and sat up, breathing heavily and drenched with sweat. He ran his fingers through his hair and took a big breath in, then out, trying to calm his nerves.

Fili looked across the room to see Kili still fast asleep on his bed. He wiped the sweat from his brow and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He pulled on some stockings and then his overcoat and walked out of the door. Fili stepped quietly down the stairs and out the door.

He sat down in the cool grass and and drew his knees up to his chest. Silent tears streamed down his face. He had broken his promise to Kili. He was supposed to be there for him. Sure, his brother was still alive, but that didn't change the fact that he had broken the most important promise he had ever made to the most important person in his life.

Kili carried on like it never happened, but Fili wondered what he really thought about him. Kili must resent him, must hate him for letting something so terrible happen to him. Fili wasn't sure he could live with himself knowing his little brother hated him.

"Ow! Mahal."

Fili turned around at the voice of his brother, "What are you doing out here, Kee?"

"Apparently subbing my toe on mum's gardening tools, but I might ask you the same question. Usually I'm the one who triestries to escape at night." said Kili as he sat beside Fili.

Fili refused to meet his brother's eyes, so instead he looked out into the darkness at the stars in the distance, "I couldn't sleep. I needed some fresh air."

He could hear Kili take a deep breath in, "And fresh air it is, too." There was a moment of awkward silence before Kili continued, "I know you, Fee. There's something bothering you. You know, whatever it is, you can talk to me. I'm right here."

Fili rested his chin on his knees and continued to look out at the stars, "You must resent me, Kee."

If Fili had been looking, he would have seen the shock evident on his brother's face, "How could you say that?"

"I broke my promise. I let them hurt you and I almost lost you."

"Fili, I could _never_ resent you. I never thought once about any stupid promise. All I cared about was finding my brother." Kili rested a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It was my job to protect you. I was supposed to keep you safe."

"You can't always be there to protect me. I have to learn how to fend for myself. We aren't always going to be able to rely on each other to be there every moment of the day."

"But I promised."

"I don't care. I release you from your commitment."

"What if I don't want to be released!" Fili lashed out.

Kili replied in a gentle voice, "What's the point of making a promise if you can't be sure you'll keep it?"

Fili paused a moment, "Then... then I promise to try my best."

Kili smiled, "That sounds like a promise I know you'll keep."

Fili smiled, "What did I ever do to deserve you as my brother?"

"I can't take all the credit. I had a big brother to follow around. He showed me all I know."

"He must be quite the dwarf."

"He certainly is. He corrected me when I was wrong, he comforted me when I was sad, he carried me when I was hurt, he celebrated when I was happy and he stayed by my side until I fell asleep. The only thing wrong with him, is that he beats himself up when he can't be there for me. He has this stubborn mindset that it's _his_ fault when something bad happens to me. It's stupid really." Kili flashed his smile at Fili, that same one from his dream, the same one he loved so much.

"Fine, you want to win? You win. I can't get anything through that thick head of yours."

Kili laughed, "That's the Fili I know. Now stop beating yourself up about things you can't control."

"I'll do it for you, but I'll never stop trying to protect you."

"I'm not asking you to. I just want the old Fili back."

Fili turned to kill and spread his arms, "Here he is."

Kili entered Fili's grasp and they stayed in each other's embrace for long moments before they broke apart.

Fili ruffled Kili's hair, "Stay out of trouble, will you?"

Kili shoved his brother's hand off, "No promises I can't keep, but I'll try my best."

THE END

 **Whew! Well, it's been a long road, but we're finally here. That's the end of my story, but I hope I can make another. I would like you guys to tell me what you think. Those of you who have been reading, but not reviewing, let me know how you liked the story. If I get lots of reviews, I'll consider starting a new story.**

 **Thank you, to all of those who have been so loyal in your reading and reviewing. I've gotten to know each and every one of your names and can't thank you enough for your encouragement. It's because of all of you that this story made it this far. Thank you.**


	23. UPDATE:

**I wanted to let all of my Desperate Times peeps know that I've just started my sequel. It's name is Shadows. Don't let the description deceive you, there will be plenty of Durin family feels in there. I think you will really like what I have planned.**

 **Thank you for your time.**

 **-TheRavenAndBear**


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